GAINING   HEALTH    IN   THE   WEST 


GAINING    HEALTH 
IN  THE  WEST 

(Colorado,    New   Mexico,   Arizona) 

Being  Impressions  of  a  Layman,  Based  on 

Seven  Years'  Personal  Experience 

with   "Climate" 

BY 
GEORGE    B.    PRICE 


NEW    YORK 
B.    W.    HUEBSCH 

1907 


\7\ 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
B.    W.    HUEBSCH 


PRINTED  IN  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword i 

Consumption  (some  phases)  is  curable,  but  condi- 
tions cannot  be  ignored. — Ignorance  too  often  fatal. 
— Advice  of  the  home  physician  must  frequently  be 
modified,  owing  to  local  conditions. — A  "fight  to 
a  finish." 

CHAPTER 

I.  Introduction 7 

Not  an  argument  for  emigration;  the  physician  to 
take  that  responsibility. — Purpose,  to  give  an  insight 
into  conditions  in  the  West. — Difficulty  of  finding  the 
desired  information. — Going  unprepared. — Thou- 
sands of  benefited  persons. — Plain  speaking  desirable. 

— No  alchemy  in  "climate." — The  real  virtues  for 
healing. — Climate  but  another  name  for  opportunity. 
— Those  who  fail,  and  why. — Desperate  cases  some- 
times saved. — Realization  of  danger  a  safeguard. — 
Courage  essential. — Aids  to  the  enemy. — A  year  to 
become  well. — A  limited  income. — Charitable  help 
avoidable. — Moral  responsibility  of  the  physician. — 
Fifty  dollars  per  month  for  comfort. — Not  hopeless 
for  the  poor  man,  if  not  too  ill. 

II.  The  Beginning  of  a  Hope         .         .         .         .20 
How  the  author  got  out  of  his  doldrums. — The  jour- 
ney westward 

[v] 


304591 


CONTENTS 

chapter  page 

111.     Climatic  Conditions 26 

Colorado,  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  compared. — 
Colorado  climate:  Winter  in  the  spring. —  Delightful 
all  the  year. — Summer  change  of  residence  unneces- 
sary.— Little  snow. — Summer  months  for  tourists. — 
Thunder-storms. — Drives,  picnics,  etc. —  Delightful 
nights. — Champagne  air. — Wind-storms. — Horseback 
and  log  fires. — Glorious  winter. — New  Mexico  climate: 
Similar  but  warmer. — Air  dryer. — Some  patients  do 
better  here. — A  fine  climate. — Life  dull  outside  the 
cities. — Dual  towns. — The  Mexican  element.— im- 
proving conditions. — Arizona  climate:  .Alkali  deserts. 
—  Petrified  forest  and  Grand  Canon  here. —  Exceed- 
ingly dry  air. — Cost  of  living,  high. — Phenix  and 
Tucson. 


IV.     Where  and  How  to  Live  .  .  .  -39 

Coing  on  a  ranch:  Differences  in  ranches. — .Average 
ranch  not  comfortable. — Emergencies. — When  ranch 
life  may  be  profitable. — Benefits  overestimated. — 
Boarding  Houses:  Generally  good. — Cost. — Advan- 
tages.— Sanatoria:  Prejudice  unwarranted. — Their 
comforts  and  advantages. — Tents  on  grounds.— Cost  of 
sanatorium  living. — Exchanging  confidences  possible 
and  helpful. — A  steamer  chair  community. — Fires  of 
adversity. — Sanatorium  treatment  unquestionably 
best  for  very  ill. — Profitable  for  all  classes  of  invalids. 
— Living  in  a  Tent:  May  be  cheap  or  costly. — Suit- 
able food  important. — In  connection  with  boarding 
house. — Tent-porches. — Ordinary  tents. — Selecting 
ground. — Danger  in  brooks. — Object  of  a  tent  "  fly." 

[vi] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

— Value  in  tenting. — Improved  tents. — Tent-houses. 
— Portable  houses. — Cheap  housekeeping. — Tenting 
sometimes  injurious. — Housekeeping:  Desirability  of 
keeping  house. —  Rent  before  buying. — Cost  of  fur- 
nished houses. — Apartments. — Cost  of  apartments. — 
Furnished  rooms  and  their  cost. — Cost  of  table  board. 

V.  Marital  Obligations  .  .  .  .  -63 
The  question  of  moving  the  family. — Married  people. 

— The  invalid's  need  of  companionship. — Hope  de- 
ferred.— Effects  of  prolonged  absence. — Injustice  in 
long  separations. — The  invalid  is  sensitive. — Worldly 
pursuits,  or  love,  which? — Small  income  enough. 

VI.  Getting  Employment         .         .         .         .         -70 
Injurious  to  accept  employment  too  early. — Condi- 
tions of  demand. — Boom  towns. — Exaggerating  pos- 
sibilities.— Infant  towns. — Caution  in  estimating. — 

A  rational  estimate. — Accepting  expedients. — Com- 
peting invalids. — Salaries  low. — Possibilities  increase 
with  health. — Mechanic  trades. — Art  little  encour- 
aged.— Professional  classes. — Teachers  and  musi- 
cians.— Domestics. — Different  character  of  domestic 
service  in  the  West. — Chance  conditions  of  success. — 
Buying  a  partnership. — Information  by  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce. — Increasing  opportunities. — The  West 
an  empire. — Most  successful  men  once  invalids. 

VII.  How  to  Avoid   Loneliness  .  .  .81 
Importance  of  a  cheery  disposition. — Folly  of  regrets. 

— Substitution  of  object  of  business. — Need  of  pleas- 
ant   diversion. — Delights    of    relaxation. — Value    of 

[vli] 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK 


making  friends. — Choosing  environment. — Abbrevi- 
ated indulgences. — Early  to  bed. — Open  windows. — 
Light  exercise  only. — Many  alternative  employments 
uf  time. — College  towns. — Taking  a  special  course. — 
Latent  brain  possibilities. — Lack  of  interest  a  bad 
sign. —  Being  "  hipped." — Diversions  must  be  mental. 
— Permitted  and  denied  diversions. — All  dissipation 
must  be  avoided. — Joining  a  club. — Amusements. — 
Genialitv  among  women. — Women's  clubs. 

VI 11.     Social  and  Ethical  Aspects  .  .  9^ 

The  question  of  congeniality. — Eastern  people. — 
Englishmen. — "  Little  London." — Society  a  counter- 
part of  the  best. — Natural  living. — Veritable  homes. 
— Inviting  aspect  of  the  towns. —  Beautiful  residences. 
— Enjoying  life. — Contrast  between  cities  and  coun- 
try.— All  kinds  of  people. — Mountain  towns.— Min- 
ing camps. — The  cowboy. — Unconventional  types. — 
Ethics  of  the  type. — Moral  transmutations. — Up-to- 
date  character  of  towns. — Pride  in  education. — 
Schools  and  colleges. — Low  cost  of  tuition. — Co-edu- 
cation.— Type  of  scholarship. — Sports  and  fraterni- 
ties.— Wealth  not  requisite. — Social  functions. — A 
live-and-let-live  policy. — Clubs, libraries  and  churches. 
— Speculation. — Gold  mines,  real  and  delusive. — 
Towns  varying  in  characteristics. — Denver,  Colorado 
Springs,  Manitou,  Pueblo,  Boulder,  Canyon  City, 
Albuquerque,  Las  Vegas,  Santa  Fe,  Phenix,  Tucsc^n. 
— Character  of  health-resort  towns. — Leisure  class. 
— Reason  for  choosing  a  certain  location. — "Smart" 
set. — Materialism  in  the  West. —  Letters  of  intro- 
duction desirable. 

[vill] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX.  The  Lure  of  the  West in 

Progressive  Americanism. — An  Indefinable  change. — 
The  East  loses  its  hold.— The  thrall  of  Nature's 
glories. — Transmuted  love. 

X.  The  Nature  of  the  Disease     .         .         .         •    i'5 
Knowledge  desirable  as  a  preventive. — Consumption 

not  inherited. — How  contracted. — An  accident. — 
Tubercle  bacilli  a  vegetable  growth. —  Immunity 
through  health. — Weak  organs  invite  it. — Danger  in 
delay. — Medicines  practically  useless. — The  only 
known  method  of  cure. — Nature's  effort. — When 
disease  is  arrested. —  Returning  confidence. — Need 
of  caution. — Danger  in  resuming  old  habits  and 
habitat. — Why  too  early  emplnvment  is  dangerous. — 
The  quandary  and  alternatives. — Great  importance 
of  the  first  year's  residence. —  Freedom  from  infection 
in  health-resort  cities  of  the  West. 

XI.  A  Chapter  on  Don'ts  .         .         .         .124 
Some  hints  on  the  most  important  things  to  do  and 
not  to  do. — Nostrums,  exercise,  indulgence,  exposure, 
digestion,  stimulants,  hemorrhage,  sleep,  food,  clean- 
liness.— Importance  of  sputum  disposal. 

Appendix:     Statistics        .         .         .         .         .         •    '33 
A  brief  summary  of  the  climate,  sanatoria,  physical 
aspect,  inhabitants,  and  principal  cities  and  towns 
in    the    three    states,    Colorado,    New    Mexico    and 
Arizona. 


[ix] 


FOREWORD 

Consumption  can  be  cured !  At  least,  some 
phases  of  it  can  be:  such  is  the  general  state- 
ment now  held  out  as  a  hope.  But  there  are 
conditions. 

Weigh  the  import  of  such  sentences  as  the 
following,  penned  by  specialists  who  have 
worked  and  observed  for  years  right  in  the 
heart  of  climates  which  are  popularly  sup- 
posed to  be  "  cure-alls  "  for  consumptives: 

"  Very  .  .  .  many  cases  of  phthisis 
which  we  would  designate  curable,  fail  of  re- 
covery, simply  from  imprudence  .  .  .  and 
indiscretion."  ^ 

Again:  "Other  invalids  fail  to  do  well 
simply  from  an  erroneous  idea,"  etc.- 

Stop  a  moment  and  think !    What  does  this 

*  Dr.  B.  p.  Anderson.     In  connection  with  this  and  fol- 
lowing references  see  the  note  on  the  last  page. 
2  Dr.  W,  H.  Swan. 

[I] 


GAINING   Hi^ALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

mean?  Does  it  not  clearly  indicate  that  there 
are  necessary  conditions  of  recovery  of  which 
the  patients  referred  to  were  either  ignorant 
or  careless?  Every  one  of  these  patients  had 
gone  many  miles  from  home,  suffered  more 
or  less  hardship,  made  positive  sacrifices. 
Each  one  had  reluctantly  separated  himself 
from  business,  family,  home,  and  prospects, 
possibly  had  involved  himself  or  some  sym- 
pathetic relative  in  financial  stress — all  in 
order  to  gain  benefit  from  a  distant  cli- 
mate— and  then  failed,  foolishly  and  hope- 
lessly failed,  not  because  it  was  impossible  to 
get  well,  but  because  he  did  not  realize  or 
attend  to  conditions.  Yet  every  one  of  them 
probably  thought  he  knew  all  that  was  neces- 
sary for  his  cure. 

Can  anything  more  clearly  of  fatally  dem- 
onstrate the  blindness  or  ignorance  or  lack 
of  preparation  of  the  man  to  be  benefited? 
The  result — death!  When  it  might  have 
been  and  should  have  been  many  years  of 
a  happy,  useful  life. 

[2] 


FOREWORD 

It  Is  not  to  be  understood  that  all  cases  oi 
tuberculosis  sent  to  the  West  can  be  cured; 
some  cases  (not  the  ones  we  are  discussing) 
ought  never  to  be  sent  away  from  home;  for, 
as  Dr.  C.  J.  B.  Williams  says,  "  There  are  a 
certain  number  of  cases  where  the  best  of 
climates  avail  nothing." 

But  if  you  are  in  the  "  probably  curable  " 
class  (as  your  home  doctor,  if  he  is  an  honest 
man,  implies  when  he  sends  you  West),  isn't 
it  worth  while  that  you  should  thoroughly 
understand  the  required  conditions  for  your 
cure?  Wherein  lies  the  fault  of  these  hun- 
dreds who  needlessly  go  to  an  untimely  death, 
so  uninformed  as  to  commit  "  imprudences  " 
and  "  indiscretions "  and  hold  erroneous 
ideas? 

I  believe  that  my  own  experience  in  the 
West  suggests  some  answers.  This,  then,  if 
any  be  needed,  is  my  apology  for  offering  the 
following  pages:  the  hope  that  these  sugges- 
tions— so  entirely  unprofessional  and  strictly 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  man  to  be  bene- 

[3] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THP:  WEST 

fited — may  help  some  Invalid  to  think  more 
deeply;  perhaps  to  see  that  his  cure  depends 
upon  much  more  than  climate  alone,  even 
though  that  he  unexcelled. 

Another  thought,  before  closing  this  fore- 
word: I  believe  I  am  implying  no  disrespect 
to  an  honored  profession  in  saying  that,  what- 
ever the  general  advice  given  the  invalid  by 
his  home  physician  upon  starting  him  on  his 
westward  trip,  experience  shows  that  such 
advice  must  often  be  modified  greatly  by  the 
physician  in  the  place  to  which  he  goes.  Local 
conditions  of  climate,  often  varying  considera- 
bly with  the  time  of  year,  peculiarities  of  the 
locality,  of  which  the  home  doctor  can  know 
little  or  nothing,  the  state  of  the  disease,  etc., 
sometimes  make  a  most  important  difference 
in  treatment  and  living.  If  the  invalid  is  act- 
ing only  on  the  general  and  unmodified  advice 
of  a  non-resident  physician  he  is,  therefore, 
likely  to  remain  ignorant  of  these  differences, 
commits  some  indiscretion,  and,  instead  of 
gaining,  loses  ground.     Even  the  local  physi- 

[4] 


FOREWORD 

cian  is  often  too  busy  to  give  the  patient,  in 
one  interview,  a  full,  tabulated  statement  of 
everything  he  is  to  do,  or  avoid  doing,  or  else 
these  things  do  not  at  first  make  an  impres- 
sion on  his  mind,  and,  in  consequence,  he  does 
something  imprudent.^ 

Is  it  not,  then,  worth  something  to  the  in- 
valid to  be  forewarned? 

Phthisis,  even  in  its  most  favorable  forms, 
is  difficult  enough  to  combat,  and  the  patient 
who  insists  upon  regarding  his  own  case 
lightly  (as  he  often  does  from  a  false  personal 
pride)  and  does  imprudent  things,  just  to 
show,  perhaps,  that  he  does  not  have  to  be 
careful,  is  already  well  on  the  road  to  doom: 
for  his  is  an  enemy  not  to  be  trifled  with  or 
given  quarter,  even  for  a  day.  This  error 
doubtless  lies  at  the  root  of  much  indiscretion 
and,  if  continued,  is  almost  certain  to  spell 
eventual  failure. 


1  Dr.  B.  p.  Anderson  says :  "  Many  cases  of  phthisis  which 
we  would  designate  curable,  fail  of  recovery,  simply  from  im- 
prudence in  the  matter  of  exercise  and  indiscretion  in  the 
manner  of  living." 

[5] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

There  Is  little  use  in  seeking  "  climate  " 
unless  the  patient  realizes  that  he  is  in  for  a 
"  fight  to  a  finish,"  and  possesses  also  the  de- 
termination to  win  that  fight  if  it  is  within 
human  possibility. 


[fi] 


INTRODUCTION 

To  THE  man  or  woman  in  health  and  strong 
for  the  day's  work,  this  book  may  have  sHght 
import.  But  these  pages,  written  by  one 
who  has  spent  seven  years  in  those  regions 
(having  originally  gone  there  on  a  similar 
quest  for  health),  ought  to  be  of  more  than 
passing  interest  to  such  as  are  in  need  of  a 
thorough  building  up  to  be  effected  through 
climatic  change — particularly  to  him  who  has 
recently  heard  from  his  physician  the  disquiet- 
ing news  that  his  lung  or  throat  has  been 
invaded  by  the  insidious  bacilli  of  that  "  white 
plague,"  tuberculosis,  which  annually  adds 
probably  sixty  thousand  new  recruits  to  the 
list  of  invalids  in  the  United  States  alone,  and 
that,  in  order  to  give  himself  the  best  chance 
for  recovery  he  must  live  a  while  in  the  table- 

[7] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

lands  of  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  or  Ari- 
zona— that  Mecca  for  the  invalid. 

The  writer  wishes  to  state  at  the  outset 
that  he  is  not  arguing  in  favor  of  emigration 
to  the  West  or  singing  a  paean  to  its  great- 
ness: that  has  been  done  already  by  others. 
He  does  not  attempt  to  discuss  at  all  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  or  not  the  particular  invalid 
should  go  there:  that  is  taken  to  have  been 
determined  by  the  physician.  His  whole  pur- 
pose is  to  tell  those  who  are  yet  new  to  the 
experience  some  things  that  might  be  useful 
and  instructive,  and  to  acquaint  them  slightly 
with  the  conditions  and  "  atmosphere  "  of  the 
West  in  advance.  It  is  the  personal  interest 
of  the  invalid,  and  especially  that  of  the 
tuberculosis  invalid — not  that  of  the  West — 
which  is  constantly  kept  in  view. 

Holding  this  distinct  purpose  and,  more- 
over, sharing  a  kindred  feeling  with  all  who 
are  similarly  afflicted,  and  believing  that  the 
following  pages  may  bear  more  emphasis 
and,  he  hopes,  encouragement  if  addressed 
[8] 


INTRODUCTION 

directly  to  the  individual  in  personal  confer- 
ence, the  author  begs  leave  to  dispense  with 
the  more  formal  essay  style  and  speak  directly 
to  his  readers  in  the  second  person. 

If  you  have  the  inclination  and  time  to 
hunt  for  books  of  travel,  encyclopaedias,  medi- 
cal and  government  statistics,  etc.,  you  may 
acquire  a  more  or  less  comprehensive  idea  of 
that  western  land  of  promise;  ^  yet  even  this 
method  leaves  much  unanswered,  particulars 
of  importance  to  you  as  an  invalid,  which  you 
would  have  to  find  out  for  yourself  by  experi- 
ence. This  lack  of  full  information  and  the 
consequent  proceeding  on  assumptions  have 
too  often  brought  disappointment,  if  not  a 
worse  thing. 

However,  it  is  far  from  my  intention  to 
speak  forebodingly,  for  there  is  much  to  in- 

1 "  A  country,  then,  in  which  life  can  be  saved,  an  El  Dorado, 
not  of  gold,  but  of  health,  a  country  right  here  in  the  United 
States,  well  called  'our  natural  sanitarium,'  where  to  catch 
consumption  is  next  door  to  impossible,  and  where  even  those 
who  are  said  to  be  hopelessly  ill  with  the  disease  recover,  is  a 
country  of  such  a  sort  that  one  needs  to  offer  no  apology  for 
presenting  its  merits  to  the  whole  world,  at  once  and  with  all 
the  force  one  can."— Dr.  C.  F.  Gardiner. 

[9] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

spirit  in  that  western  world  and  its  unaccus- 
tomed life,  while  as  to  achieving  the  object 
of  search — regained  health — the  patient  has 
only  to  hold  before  his  eyes  the  indisputable 
fact  that  thousands  have  been  cured  who,  at 
one  time  or  another,  safely  passed  through 
the  same  ordeal  he  is  now  experiencing. 

If  I  sound  occasional  plain-spoken  notes  of 
warning  and  do  not  treat  the  whole  subject 
with  the  levity  appropriate  to  a  summer's  out- 
ing, it  will  be  because  I,  once  an  invalid, 
learned  something  of  the  importance  of  going 
as  well  prepared  as  possible,  of  avoiding  fool- 
ish but  not  always  suspected  errors,  and  of 
then  resting  in  such  peace  of  mind  and  hope- 
fulness as  should  characterize  the  philosopher, 
instead  of  ignorantly  and  over-confidently 
trusting  to  chance  or  hazard  to  "  bring  you 
out  all  right." 

If  there  are  such  things  as  laws  of  health 
and  rules  for  right  living — and  it  is  generally 
conceded  that  there  are — then,  however  heed- 
lessly you  may  have  trifled  with  these  in  the 
[ml 


INTRODUCTION 

past,  it  is  of  first  importance  that  you  sincerely 
lay  them  to  heart  now. 

Do  not  imagine  for  a  moment  that  there 
is  going  to  be  any  alchemy  or  ikon  In  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region  or  elsewhere  to  charm 
away  a  distemper  or  perform  miracles  of  heal- 
ing on  your  physical  body. 

That  region  has  its  virtues — that  is  why 
you  are  going  there:  virtues  of  pure  air  with 
which  to  fill  the  lungs  deeply;  of  altitude,  for 
quickening  the  sluggish  pulse;  of  every-day 
sunshine,  mellow  and  golden,  in  which  to 
bask  and  bathe  the  body;  but  understand  at 
the  outset,  and  remember  always,  that  these 
things  are  only  just  so  many  little  aids — the 
best  and  strongest  yet  discovered — for  assist- 
ing you  to  make  good  use  of  all  the  other 
potentialities  within  your  own  physical  make- 
up. They  themselves  will  never  cure  you ; 
they  may  help  you  very  much :  possibly  they 
will  give  you  just  that  extra  help  which  your 
physical  depletion  now  needs  to  carry  you  over 
the  dividing  line  between  going  deeper  into 
[ii] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN  THE  WEST 

the  shadow  or  coming  out  on  the  hillside; 
remember,  Colorado,  or  New  Mexico,  or 
Arizona  may  simply  be  another  name  for  your 
opportunity  for  life,  everything  depending 
upon  how  you  use  the  opportunity. 

Many  a  young  man  with  a  comparatively 
light  case  of  tuberculosis,  who  ought,  by  all 
calculation,  to  have  been  restored,  has  suc- 
cumbed within  a  year  or  two,  principally  be- 
cause he  was  reckless  or  lived  prodigally; 
while  at  the  same  time  some  invalid  so  ill  as 
to  be  unable  to  walk  when  first  brought  there, 
by  better  realizing  his  desperate  condition  and 
consequently  attending  to  the  doctor's  orders, 
has  gradually  been  lifted  back  to  life  and  busi- 
ness. Indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  remark  that 
the  "  stretcher  cases  "  often  recover.  When 
it  is  so  I  believe  the  explanation  is  generally 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  really  sick 
man  more  fully  apprehends  his  danger  and 
is  more  on  the  watch  to  thwart  his  enemy.^ 


'  Dr.  W.  H.  Swan  says:  "It  is  true  that  many  cases  with 
far  advanced  disease  have  done  well  here  (Colorado)  and  have 

[12] 


INTRODUCTION 

So,  while  you  need  not  be  despondent  If 
you  are  among  the  stretcher  cases,  be  thank- 
ful If  you  have  not  reached  that  stage,  and 
do  not  trifle  with  your  chance  any  more  than 
If  you  had. 

The  doctor  has  probably  put  It  quite  mildly. 
In  order  not  to  frighten  you,  and  has  advised 
you  to  go  for  a  few  months  to  those  dry  table- 
lands of  the  West  to  escape  the  more  rigorous 
Eastern  climate  and  to  build  up  your  strength. 


been  for  years  living  active,  useful  livfes;  but  .  .  .  they 
require  more  prolonged  rest  and  careful  feeding,  than  those 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  disease."  And  again:  "Other 
invalids  fail  to  do  well  simply  from  an  erroneous  idea  that 
simply  living  in  this  climate  will  cure,  without  regard  to  the 
manner  of  living.  It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  to  see  a  patient, 
after  three  or  four  months'  residence  here,  in  a  materially 
worse  condition  than  on  his  arrival;  and  to  find  that  he  came 
with  the  belief  (too  often  from  instruction  from  his  home 
physician)  that  if  he  will  'live  out-of-doors,'  exercise,  ride 
horseback,  play  golf,  tennis— do  anything  to  keep  him  in  the 
open  air— he  will  get  well.  Very  likely  he  may  have  climbed 
Pike's  Peak,  or  done  some  equally  foolhardy  thing  within  a 
few  days  of  his  arrival.  .  .  .  Now  it  is  a  definite  fact 
that  a  person  coming  here  from  a  lower  altitude,  till  he  is 
adjusted  to  the  change,  fatigues  much  more  easily  than  at 
home.  At  the  same  time  the  bracing,  exhilarating  air  often 
acts  as  a  constant  nervous  stimulant  which  spurs  one  on  to 
exercise  without  his  feeling  fatigue,  till  at  length  his  physical 
limit  is  exceeded,  his  powers  of  resistance  depressed,  .  .  . 
[and]  a  fresh  or  extended  infection  occurs." 

[13] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE   WEST 

Perhaps  this  is  really  all  there  is  to  it,  and 
if  so  you  are  very  fortunate.  But  perhaps  the 
threat  of  destruction  has  already  invaded  your 
lung:  the  actual  assault  of  those  miserable 
microbes  has  already  begun.  Do  not  lose 
heart,  for  courage  is  the  first  essential.  You 
have  simply  been  encountered  by  an  enemy 
whom  you  must  vanquish. 

Feelings  of  antagonism  against  fate,  bitter- 
ness of  soul,  dejection  of  spirits,  restless  pee- 
vishness and  all  kinds  of  worries  are  aids  to 
your  adversary.  Such  morbid  mental  states 
even  in  comparative  health  have  a  psychologi- 
cal influence  upon  the  physical  condition  of 
the  blood,  actually  engendering  a  kind  of  slow 
poison  In  the  circulation;  instead  of  which 
you  now  need  rich  and  vigorous  blood  to 
attack  the  disease. 

Very  likely  the  patient  has  been  recom- 
mended to  put  himself,  upon  his  arrival  in 
the  West,  under  the  care  of  a  local  physician, 
which  he  undoubtedly  should  do,  and  from 
him  and  the  observation  of  other  cases  he 
M4l 


INTRODUCTION 

gradually  learns  the  truth  that  if  he  can  be 
pronounced  cured  within  the  year,  his  will 
have  been  one  of  the  quicker  cases  of  recovery. 
Perhaps  I  may  be  criticised  a  little  for  mak- 
ing this  revelation  in  advance  ( I  was  some 
months  in  finding  it  out  for  myself),  but  my 
justification  for  doing  so  lies  in  my  conviction 
that  it  not  only  influences  the  patient  to  make 
more  thoughtful  provision  for  himself  and 
his  family,  if  he  has  one,  but  it  also  leads  him 
to  realize  fully  the  importance  of  making 
every  day  of  the  year  count  for  his  recovery. 
It  introduces,  also,  another  consideration  very 
important  to  most  people — that  of  maintain- 
ing himself  during  many  months  of  enforced 
idleness  on,  perhaps,  a  limited  income.  Obvi- 
ously, if  one  has  but  a  possible  five  hundred 
dollars,  let  us  say,  to  draw  on,  it  would  be 
foolish  policy  to  begin  on  a  scale  of  living 
requiring  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  a 
month,  under  the  delusion  that  two  or  three 
months  would  perfectly  restore  his  health. 
The   end   of   It   would    be   reached    all   too 

[15] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THP:   WEST 

quickly,  long  before  a  cure  could  be  effected, 
and  disappointment  must  result. 

Many  a  man  or  woman  has  gone  West  un- 
der the  delusion  of  a  speedy  cure,  only  to  use 
up  his  or  her  last  dollar  to  purchase  a  return 
railroad  ticket,  or  perchance  has  had  to  be 
put  aboard  the  train  through  the  charitable 
help  of  some  kind-hearted  physician  or 
stranger.  These  are  among  some  sad  things 
which  one  occasionally  sees  in  that  land — 
too  often  things  that  might  have  been  avoided 
by  more  foresight  or  better  judgment. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  remarking,  right 
here,  upon  what  appears  to  me  to  be  the  moral 
responsibility  of  the  advising  physician  who 
sends  his  patient,  unenlightened,  to  a  distant 
land  when  he  has  not  good  reason  to  sup- 
pose his  patient's  finances  are  sufficient.^     It 


'  "  For  any  person  suffering  from  pulmonary  tuberculosis 
to  be  sent  to  this  climate  with  no  means  of  support,  or  so  little 
that  he  must  work  when  he  should  be  resting — perhaps  in  a 
vocation  in  itself  harmful — and  with  poor  and  insufficient 
food  and  the  worry  attending  such  circumstances,  is  to  impose 
more  on  the  kindness  of  a  favorable  climate  than  a  rational 
view  of  matters  will  justify.     Such  a  person  would  have  a 

[1 6] 


INTRODUCTION 

may  be  argued  that  the  doctor's  opinion  is 
professionally  limited  to  telling  his  patient 
what  would  be  helpful  to  his  cure,  and  that 
it  is  no  part  of  his  obligation  to  inquire  into 
the  patient's  financial  resources.  As  a  general 
statement,  this  would  undoubtedly  hold,  but 
in  such  a  case  as  tuberculosis,  where  the  physi- 
cian at  least  can  foresee  that  no  lasting  benefit 
can  come  to  the  patient  except  under  condi- 
tions involving  many  months  of  residence  in 
a  far-away  land,  at  constant  expense  and  with 
little  or  no  opportunity  to  earn  a  living,  it 
becomes  a  responsibility  which  the  conscien- 
tious and  thoughtful  adviser  must  take  into 
account. 

I  do  not  assert  that  it  is  hopeless  for  the 
poor  man  to  seek  restoration  in  this  way,  be- 
cause it  is  possible,  if  one  is  willing  to  and 
provided  the  invalid  is  not  too  sick  to  begin 
with,   to   manage  to  live  on  an  exceedingly 


better  chance  of  recovery  were  he  to  remain  in  a  less  favorable 
chmate,  if  he  could  there  have  the  other  measures  of  treatment 
with  the  freedom  from  care  and  worrv  so  necessary  if  he  would 
make  a  winning  fight." — Dr.  W.  H.  Swan. 

[17] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

modest  scale  of  expense.  But  by  all  means 
let  the  patient  have  the  necessary  information 
and  choice  at  the  outset.  This  matter  of  the 
expense  and  of  the  different  modes  of  living 
I  shall  discuss  in  other  chapters.  Suffice  it  here 
to  remark  that  an  assured  income  of  fifty 
dollars  a  month  will  sustain  the  health-seeker 
in  all  he  actually  needs  for  existence  and  fair 
comfort,  unless  he  requires  a  nurse  and  fre- 
quent attention  from  the  doctor. 

If  a  patient  has  very  limited  means,  he 
should  undoubtedly  give  a  hint  to  this  effect 
to  his  doctor  in  the  new  town.  It  may  save 
him  unnecessary  bills. 

In  straight,  uncomplicated  cases  of  tuber- 
culosis of  the  lung,  very  little  doctoring  is 
necessary,  usually  nothing  more  than  an  oc- 
casional physical  examination — say  once  every 
three  months —  to  determine  the  improvement 
and  the  desirability  of  continued  residence  In 
that  locality.  But  it  often  happens  that  the 
case  is  not  so  simple  as  this:  that  there  are 
complications,  perhaps  a  badly  impaired 
[i8] 


INTRODUCTION 

digestion  or  a  weak  heart.  Then  the  doctor's 
ministrations  must  be  more  frequent. 

It  will  not  do  for  the  invalid  to  assume 
that  he  is  necessarily  benefiting  just  because 
he  is  in  a  region  which  is  beneficial  to  others. 
Peculiarities  of  his  case  may  make  it  desirable 
for  him  to  be  in  another  location. 

A  first-class,  conscientious  local  physician 
is,  therefore,  your  safest  adviser  and  your 
first  necessity. 


[19] 


II 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  A  HOPE 

(The  author  feels  some  hesitancy  in  introducing  a  personal 
experience.  His  apology  for  doing  so  is  in  the  hope  that  the 
simple  narration  of  how,  in  one  case,  the  "blues"  were  made 
to  vanish  will  give  a  hopeful  uplift  to  some  fellow  not  yet  out 

of  his  d(  idrums.) 

It  was  seven-thirty  in  the  morning  of  the  first 
day  of  January,  1898,  that  I  alighted  from 
the  Rock  Island  train  at  Colorado  Springs. 
The  three  nights  and  days  spent  in  the  luxuri- 
ous Pullman  sleeper,  on  the  trip  from  the 
East,  had  not  only  been  comfortable,  but  each 
succeeding  day  of  the  journey  had  been  gradu- 
ally lifting  my  mind  out  of  the  depression  in 
which  I  had  bid  good-by  to  my  family,  my 
business  hopes  and  many  cherished  associ- 
ations. 

Only  a  few  weeks  before  I  had  learned 
from  my  doctor  the  depressing  information 
that  one  lung  showed  evidences  of  invasion 

[20] 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   A    HOPE 

and,  my  health  having  never  been  robust,  It 
was  deemed  essential  to  safety  that  I  undergo 
this  sacrifice  of  separation  from  all  that  I  sup- 
posed made  life  worth  living.  It  was  easy  for 
my  morbid  imagination  to  picture  that  this 
separation  would  be  final  and  that  the  last  act 
of  my  human  drama  was  about  to  close  in 
utter  discouragement. 

What  was  the  use  in  going  at  all?  Why 
not  remain  at  home,  accept  the  decree  of  fate, 
and  die  quietly  and  respectably  in  the  city  of 
my  birth,  as  my  ancestors  had  done  before 
me  when  "  consumption  "  was  regarded  as 
inevitably  fatal? 

Yes,  I  am  acknowledging  the  weakness  of 
my  own  human  nature  (elsewhere  inveighed 
against  in  these  pages)  just  to  encourage  you 
to  hold  on ! 

Some  day  you  will  get  your  chance  to  smile 
good-humoredly  upon  the  poor  fellow  who 
believes  himself  already  standing  over  a 
spouting  volcano,  your  chance  to  crack  jokes 
with  "  invalids  "  and  graciously  to  smile  at 

[21] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

the  apologetic  way  in  which  the  new  arrival 
explains  his  presence  there  by  referring  to 
"  just  a  little  cold."  You  will  smile,  too, 
though  not  without  a  shade  of  sympathy,  to 
see  how  the  newcomer  recoils  at  first  upon 
hearing  some  old  stager  complacently  refer 
to  him  as  a  "  lunger." 

Well,  no  matter;  these  little  things  are 
easily  survived,  and  after  all  they  are  only 
hall-marks  or  kindly  initiations,  introducing 
you  into  a  really  warm  hearted  fellow-feeling; 
bound  to  leave  you  none  the  worse,  but  only 
broader  and  more  generous. 

But  my  narrative:  where  was  I?  O,  yes, 
in  a  Pullman  car,  speeding  for  Colorado,  en- 
joying the  dining-car  cuisine,  and  sleeping  in 
my  narrow  berth  more  soundly,  those  three 
nights,  than  for  weeks  before;  from  the  car 
windows  watching  the  varying  evidences  of 
man's  activities  flit  past,  cities  succeeded  by 
farms,  and  these  by  open  prairies  and  a  far- 
reaching  skyline;  until  I  become  sensible,  as 
never  before,  of  the  width  and  vastncss  of  my 

[22] 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   A    HOPE 

country,  of  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
acres  still  waiting  to  be  tilled  by  man.  What 
a  population  this  country  will  hold  and  nour- 
ish, some  day!  And  how  little  we  realize  it, 
while  hving  cramped  lives  in  the  great  city. 

This  very  sense  of  limitless  expansion  and 
possibilities  seemed  to  breathe  upon  me,  as  a 
quickening  spirit,  giving  new  impulse  to  my 
blood;  and  thus,  as  I  remarked,  each  succeed- 
ing day  of  that  journey  was  clearing  my  mind, 
strengthening  hope,  and  actually  bringing  a 
buoyancy  to  my  spirits. 

Now  at  last  Colorado  is  reached.  Here 
and  there,  dotting  at  long  intervals  the  russet 
plains,  stand  what  look  like  toy  houses,  and 
those  miniature  animals  are  really  cows  or 
horses.  Something  must  be  wrong  with  my 
eyes,  that  I  see  things  so  small !  Some  one 
cries  out,  "  The  mountains!  "  Sure  enough, 
over  against  the  horizon,  clear  and  rosy  in 
the  sunrise,  some  mounds  are  visible.  Gradu- 
ally these  mounds  rise  higher  and  higher 
above  the  plain,  while  stretching  away  from 
[23] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

them,  right  and  left,  is  discovered  an  uneven 
ridge,  of  the  same  rosy  formation.  "  Moun- 
tains!" I  remark  to  a  fellow-passenger; 
"Surely  those  are  only  foothills:  the  real 
Rocky  Mountain  range  must  still  be  back  of 
those." 

I  have  been  deluded  again.  That  highest 
rounded  mound  is  actually  Pike's  Peak,  one 
of  the  highest  of  the  whole  great  backbone 
of  the  continent;  and  yet  my  unaccustomed 
eyes,  scanning  over  thirty  miles  of  level  prairie 
through  an  atmosphere  of  clear  crystal,  were 
estimating  those  peaks  as  something  akin  to 
molehills.  It  prepared  me  for  the  subsequent 
jokes  anent  Colorado  atmosphere  and  visual 
delusion. 

My  destination  is  reached  as  the  train 
comes  to  a  standstill  in  Colorado  Springs. 
The  mountain  chain  is  now  but  six  miles  dis- 
tant to  the  west,  no  longer  to  be  apologized 
for,  but  rearing  its  mighty  mass,  with  bul- 
warks and  bastions,  in  a  continuous  fortress 
wall  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see. 

[24] 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    A    HOPE 

It  is  the  first  day  of  the  new  year,  and  Its 
bright  sun  is  already  diffusing  a  genial  warmth 
in  the  delicious  atmosphere.  An  open  trolley 
car  glides  cheerily  across  an  overhead  bridge. 
Not  a  particle  of  snow  is  in  sight.  The  beau- 
tifully wide  streets  look  clean  and  level;  the 
pretty  houses,  uncramped  and  individual,  look 
homelike  and  inviting. 

Another  few  minutes,  and  a  new  name  is 
on  the  register  of  a  near-by  hotel. 

It  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  hope  and  a  new 
epoch  in  a  life! 


[25] 


Ill 

CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

Of  the  three  States  we  are  discussing,  namely, 
Colorado,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  the  first 
may  be  said  to  have  the  more  bracing  climate 
and  also  the  wider  variation  in  temperature, 
which  ranges  from  winter  "  cold  snaps  "  be- 
low zero  to  temperatures  in  the  nineties  during 
part  of  the  summer.  These,  however,  are 
extremes  which  are  infrequent,  and  even  when 
they  do  occur  imply  no  inconvenience  owing 
to  the  comparative  dryness  of  the  air.  All 
the  year  in  Colorado  is  pleasant.  It  is  one  of 
the  few  states  in  the  Union  where  one  feels 
no  necessity  of  change  of  residence  to  escape 
oppressive  heat  or  benumbing  cold,  though 
it  does  afford  that  variety  of  seasons  which 
seems  best  suited  to  maintaining  the  physical 
tone  of  the  average  man.  There  is  no  season 
[26] 


CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

there,  and  very  few  days  in  the  whole  year, 
when  an  invahd  cannot  sit  out-of-doors  on  an 
open  porch  and  enjoy  the  always  delightful  air. 

The  spring  months  are  the  least  agreeable, 
corresponding  to  the  winter  months  of  the 
Eastern  Middle  States,  although  the  weather 
is  not  so  raw  and  inclement:  but  from  the 
middle  of  March  until  mid-May  occur  most 
of  the  rains  and  practically  all  of  the  snows 
(except  in  the  mountains)  of  the  year.  Three 
or  four  wet,  heavy  snows  fall  during  this 
period,  often  blocking  traffic  within  three 
hours,  but  by  noon  of  the  second  day  every 
vestige  of  it  will  be  gone,  evaporated  by  the 
warm  sun,  dry  air  and  sandy  soil.  Such  an 
object  as  a  sleigh  is  seldom  seen  in  Colorado, 
since  a  sleighing  party  starting  out  in  the 
morning,  on  an  apparently  good  bed  of  snow, 
might  return  in  the  afternoon  with  sleigh- 
runners  dragging  through  a  gravelly  soil. 

The  summer  months  are  very  inviting,  and 
during  this  season  many  thousands  of  tour- 
ists visit  the  State,  partly,  no  doubt,  in 
[27] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

consequence  of  the  greatly  reduced  round-trip 
rates  made  by  the  railroads  in  the  summer.  It 
is  then,  of  all  the  year,  that  hotels,  boarding- 
and  rooming-houses  are  filled  to  their  maxi- 
mum capacity,  although  they  seem  to  have 
a  way  of  expanding  with  the  demand,  so  that 
one  never  hears  of  a  weary  traveler  having 
to  sleep  out-of-doors  unless  he  prefers  to. 

The  summer  is  usually  warm  and  clear,  ex- 
cept for  the  almost  daily  thunder-shower 
which  is  seen  hovering  along  the  mountain 
ridges  in  the  afternoon  and  not  infrequently 
visits  the  nearer  plains  with  an  hour's  scurry- 
ing rain.  The  effect  of  thunder-storms  within 
the  mountain  gorges  is  often  awe-inspiring 
and  sometimes  terrific  to  those  who  are  natur- 
ally timid,  as  the  lightning  bolts  are  star- 
tlingly  brilliant  and  the  reverberations  of 
thunder  are  intensified  by  the  rocky  walls. 
There  is  also  an  element  of  danger  from  the 
possibility  that  a  cloud-burst  may  descend  a 
cafion  with  unexpected  and  alarming  rapidity 
in  an  onrushing  wall  of  water  down  what 
[28] 


CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

was,  a  minute  before,  but  an  innocent  moun- 
tain brook. 

During  July  and  August,  therefore,  the 
better  time  for  drives  or  picnics  in  the  moun- 
tains is  the  morning,  with  a  second  choice 
late  in  the  afternoon  or  early  in  the  evening. 
But  one  should  go  well  supplied  with  wraps 
toward  the  end  of  the  day,  as  there  is  a  sharp 
difference  in  temperature  and  in  the  feel  of  the 
air  when  the  sun  disappears  behind  the  moun- 
tains. 

The  mornings  are  nearly  always  beautifully 
clear  and  delightful,  although  the  mercury  is 
not  unlikely  to  mount  into  the  eighties  and 
remain  there  between  eleven  and  three  o'clock 
in  July  and  August.  As  the  shadows  grow 
purplish  with  the  waning  of  the  sun  a  "refresh- 
ing coolness  replaces  the  heat,  and  one  or  two 
blankets  are  comfortable  as  you  lie  at  night 
with  windows  open  wide  to  delightful  breezes, 
and  twinkling  stars  glitter  at  you  from  a 
spangled  sky.  Then  it  is  that  sleeping  out- 
of-doors  is  fascinating,  and  you  feel  that  you 
[29] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

would  not  exchange  your  simple  tent,  with  the 
glorious  canopy  of  the  night  heaven  above 
you,  for  the  most  palatial  room  imaginable. 
The  night  winds,  sifting  downward  from  yon 
mountain  peaks  and  sipping  the  balsam  from 
ten  thousand  fir  trees,  breathe  gently  upon 
your  cheek  and  brow,  like  the  touch  of  a 
fairy  wand,  and  presently  you  are  fast  asleep 
in  such  sweet  repose  as  good  fairies  bring  to 
childhood. 

Such  is  genial  summer-time  in  Colorado. 

By  the  middle  of  September  the  period  of 
summer  is  past,  but  the  transition  to  winter 
is  so  gradual  as  to  be  scarce  perceived.  The 
nights  are  growing  a  bit  colder  and  even  more 
silent,  for  the  touch  of  frost  in  the  air  has 
shut  off  the  few  insect  voices  of  summer,  and, 
standing  in  the  door  of  your  tent,  not  a  sound 
of  any  kind  reaches  the  ear  from  the  vast 
plain  stretching  away  in  the  moonlight  like 
an  ocean  without  horizon.  From  September 
till  the  following  March  the  air  is  like  cham- 
pagne, dry  and  sparkling  in  the  effulgent  sun- 

[JO] 


CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

light.  It  is  a  joy  to  breathe,  a  happiness  to 
move  and  be  in  existence  ! 

Now  it  is  that  the  livelong  day  can  be 
enjoyed  out-of-doors  without  fear  of  either 
heat  or  storm.  True,  a  few  windy  blows  are 
due  along  in  the  autumn  months,  but  they 
are  never  of  the  cyclone  variety,  and  the  worst 
inconvenience  from  them  is  usually  nothing 
more  than  a  blowing  of  sand  or  gravel  into 
your  face,  if  you  happen  to  be  so  persistent 
as  to  walk  abroad  just  then.  But  these  wind- 
storms are  easily  overlooked  in  the  superb 
climate  of  this  season  when  every  form  of 
locomotion  is  a  delight.  Pleasurable  as  was 
driving  in  the  summer,  it  is  even  more  so 
now,  when  the  cooler  atmosphere  invites  be- 
coming wraps,  and  a  cozy  log-fire  awaits  the 
return  at  the  gloaming.  It  is  the  season,  par 
excellence,  for  horseback  parties  to  go  on 
exhilarating  canters  over  browning  prairies  or 
to  traverse  the  winding  paths  of  canons  or  to 
climb  the  mountain-sides. 

By  mid-October  furnace  fires  begin  to  be 
[31] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

lighted  for  a  few  hours  each  day,  their  service 
being  gradually  increased  till  the  culmination 
of  the  cold  weather,  in  January,  when,  on  a 
night  or  two,  the  thermometer  may  drop  to 
15°  or  20°  below  zero;  yet  cheering  warmth 
always  comes  with  the  sun's  peep  above  the 
horizon,  and  by  noon  even  a  light  wrap  is 
often  unnecessary.  Open  trolley-cars  run 
practically  all  winter. 

There  are  few  spots  on  earth  where  Decem- 
ber, January  and  February  are  such  delight- 
ful, clear,  clean,  invigorating  months  as  in 
Colorado.  Scarce  a  cloud  to  break  the  blue 
serenity,  or  a  drop  of  rain,  or  a  fall  of  snow 
except  upon  the  higher  mountains,  and  there 
have  been  days  in  midwinter  when  I  have  seen 
the  whole  visible  mountain  range,  including 
Pike's  Peak,  with  its  altitude  of  over  fourteen 
thousand  feet,  stand  out  in  its  native  color  of 
old  rose  against  a  background  of  purest  blue, 
and  not  a  glimmer  of  white  upon  its  whole 
breast,  to  show  that  it  was  winter-time. 

Such  is  glorious  winter  in  Colorado ! 
[32] 


CLIiMATIC    CONDITIONS 

New  Mexico,  like  Colorado,  is  a  high 
table-land,  but  here  the  great  Rocky  Moun- 
tain chain,  which  reached  some  of  its  highest 
peaks  in  the  northern  State,  begins  to  dwindle 
down  and  drop  oft  in  the  region  of  Santa  Fe. 
The  climatic  conditions  are  similar,  with  win- 
ters not  quite  so  cold,  and  the  heated  term 
rather  more  prolonged.  If,  in  consequence, 
the  stimulus  to  physical  activity  is  lessened, 
it  offers  compensation  to  the  weak  invalid  ^ 
in  affording  even  more  days  when  he  can  sit 
out  in  the  open  without  wraps,  as  well  as 
burn  less  fuel  within  doors.  The  air  seems 
somewhat  drier  here  than  in  Colorado,  and 
the  stars  a  bit  more  brilliant.  The  lessening 
of  the  moisture  in  the  air  is  probably  due 
to  the  nearer  proximity  of  the  sandy  deserts 


'  "When  the  patients  are  too  feeble  to  exercise,  it  is  some- 
times best  to  begin  their  cure  in  a  warmer  and  lower  climate, 
and  later  to  transfer  them  to  the  higher  and  cooler  regions. 
.  .  .  When  the  patient  is  able  to  exercise,  the  cooler  air, 
such  as  found  during  the  winter  in  most  resorts  of  Colorado, 
is  most  desirable  and  the  cure  progresses  more  rapidly  and 
certainly."— Dr.  S.  E.  Solly. 

[33] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

of  Arizona.  Owing  to  these  conditions, 
rather  than  to  difference  in  altitude,  some 
patients  appear  to  do  better  in  New  Mexico, 
especially  those  sensitive  to  cold. 

Outside  of  a  very  few  towns,  of  which 
Santa  Fe,  Las  Vegas  and  Albuquerque  are  the 
most  easternized  and  important,  life  would  be 
somewhat  dull,  I  apprehend,  for  those  who 
have  been  accustomed  to  the  larger  cities  of 
the  East. 

The  climatic  conditions  here  are  certainly 
fine,  affording  everything  possible  in  that  line 
for  health,  but  the  newness  of  this  State,  with 
its  comparatively  small  Eastern-born  popula- 
tion and  few  opportunities,  has  held  it  back 
somewhat,  but  during  the  past  few  years  con- 
ditions have  improved.  Mexicans  and  half- 
breed  Indians  are  not  only  everywhere  c\ident 
here,  but  they  constitute  the  larger  part  of  the 
population.  Even  in  the  towns  mentioned 
there  are  two  distinct  divisions:  the  older 
town,  inhabited  almost  exclusively  by  so-called 
Mexicans,  who  are  probably  descendants  of 
[34] 


CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

the  crossed  blood  of  the  original  Pueblo 
Indians  and  the  early  Spanish  invaders;  and 
the  new  town,  built  adjacent  to  the  old,  by 
those  who  have  wandered  thither  for  health, 
or  adventure,  or  business,  within  the  last  few 
decades.  The  two  elements  do  not  fraternize, 
and  a  walk  of  a  few  hundred  yards  may  trans- 
plant you  from  a  modern  community  of  your 
own  ilk,  to  one  immersed  in  the  superstition 
and  modes  of  living  of  earlier  centuries.  It 
affords  a  contrast  interesting  to  the  student  of 
sociology,  this  juxtaposition  of  old  and  new 
civilizations.  But  the  Mexican  element  al- 
ready shows  signs  of  being  importantly 
affected  by  its  modern  contact:  schools  are 
well  attended,  and  a  spirit  of  patriotism  has 
been  steadily  developing  during  the  last  ten 
years,  in  anticipation  of  New  Mexico's  taking 
rank  as  a  state  (instead  of  a  territory),  when 
the  callow  young  Mexican  doubtless  dreams 
of  becoming  not  only  a  full-fledged  citizen, 
but  also  an  important  factor  in  the  great 
nation's  destiny. 

[35] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

Arizona,  lying  westward  of  New  Mexico, 
is  a  part  of  that  broad  table-land  between  the 
Rocky  Mountain  chain,  on  the  east,  and  the 
Sierras  of  California  to  the  west.  Until 
within  a  few  years  it  was  a  region  almost  un- 
explored and  known  principally  for  its  scorch- 
ing alkali  deserts,  its  petrified  forest,  and  its 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado  River. 

Its  few  Indians  and  half-breed  Mexicans 
lived  poorly  and  shared  the  alkali  plains  with 
the  half-starved  coyotes.  Neither  man  nor 
beast  seemed  to  covet  this  land  of  pictured 
rocks  but  barren  soil  and  parching  dryness. 
The  early  travelers  to  California  looked  fear- 
fully forward  to  the  crossing  of  that  alkali 
desert  where  many  human  and  animal  bones 
showed  that  disaster  or  thirst  had  vanquished 
their  victims.  But  traders  and  government 
outposts  began  to  take  root,  through  neces- 
sity, until  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  finally  over- 
came the  perils  of  distance,  and  from  its  car 
windows  thousands  of  west-bound  travelers, 
onrushing    to    California,    have    been    made 

[36] 


CLIMATIC    CONDITIONS 

acquainted  with  some  of  the  scenery  and  the 
extreme  dryness  of  the  air  of  Arizona. 

An  acquaintance  forced  upon  man,  rather 
than  originally  sought  by  him,  has  revealed 
atmospheric  qualities  which  have  been  found 
of  great  benefit  to  some  invalids,  especially  to 
those  suffering  from  pulmonary  tuberculosis. 
For  some  years  comfortable  accommodations 
for  the  sick  were  few,  and,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  practically  everything  had  to  be  brought 
from  a  distance,  the  cost  of  living  and  food 
was  very  high.  These  conditions  have  be- 
come more  favorable  within  the  past  ten 
years,  so  that  Phenix  and  Tucson  are  now 
offering,  with  the  Arizona  climate,  hospitable 
accommodations  to  meet  modern  require- 
ments. 

Dr.  S.  E.  Solly,  a  notable  writer  on  cli- 
matology, makes  these  comparisons:  "The 
statistics  show  an  almost  steady  rise  in  the 
percentage  of  improvement  from  the  ocean 
to  the  altitudes.  The  percentage  of  improve- 
ment among  those  who  took  sea  voyages  was 
[37] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

54  per  cent. ;  in  lowland  climates,  57  per  cent. ; 
in  lowland  desert  climates,  65  per  cent.;  while 
in  altitudes  the  improvement  runs  up  to  77 
per  cent." 

In  comparing  the  relative  virtues  of  Colo- 
rado, New  Mexico  and  Arizona  he  says: 
"  The  spring  weather  in  New  Mexico  and  in 
Arizona  is,  as  a  rule,  much  better  than  in 
Colorado.  The  summers  on  the  high  ground 
of  Colorado  are  cooler  and  pleasanter,  and 
they  are  as  dry  as  those  of  like  elevations  in 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  where  the  resorts 
of  moderately  low  elevation  are  impossible, 
on  account  of  the  excessive  heat.  .  .  . 
There  is  generally  more  wind  in  the  more 
northerly  and  elevated  resorts;  the  dust,  how- 
ever, is  more  objectionable  in  the  more  south- 
erly and  lower  resorts,  because  the  soil  is 
usually  adobe  (clay)  and  alkaline,  and  so  rises 
steadily  in  the  form  of  a  light  irritating  pow- 
der, while  on  the  high  ground  the  soil  is  more 
apt  to  be  gravel  or  granite  detritus." 

[38] 


IV 


WHERE  AND   HOW  TO  LIVE 

One  of  the  earliest  questions  to  be  settled  is 
where  and  how  to  live. 

No  matter  what  your  ultimate  destination, 
it  is  better  to  go  first  to  one  of  the  larger  towns 
or  cities  and  stay  for  a  few  days  at  a  hotel 
there,  whence  you  can  look  around  for  a 
boarding-place  or  whatever  else  you  may  have 
in  mind. 

There  is  a  wide  range  as  to  expense  of  liv- 
ing and  several  alternatives  as  to  manner  and 
location. 

A  ranch  in  Western  parlance  may  mean 
anything  from  an  unenclosed  area  of  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  wild  country  with  branded 
cattle  and  broncos,  presided  over  by  the 
nomadic  cowboy,  down  to  a  two-room  shanty 
on  a  half-acre  lot,  with  chickens  and  a  dog. 
[39] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN  THE  WEST 

So  there  are  ranches  and  ranches,  and  if 
you  strike  a  really  good  one,  conducted  on  In- 
telligent business  principles  for  the  benefit, 
not  of  the  proprietor  only,  but  of  the  in- 
valid as  well,  you  may  be  quite  happy  In 
realizing  that  you  are  getting  that  abundance 
of  fresh  air  and  nourishment  which  has  been 
pictured  in  your  mind  as  belonging  to  ranch 
life. 

But  do  not  assume  that  you  will  find  it  all 
to  your  liking.  The  average  ranch  Is  not 
nearly  so  good  a  place  to  live  in  as  the  a\  erage 
boarding-house,  and  It  is  much  to  be  doubted 
whether  the  average  results  to  the  invalid  are 
as  good. 

The  food  is  too  often  coarse  or  carelessly 
cooked  and  not  sufficiently  nourishing  or  abun- 
dant, while  as  to  milk  and  cream,  the  best 
of  it  has  probably  gone  to  be  sold  to  the  city 
trade. 

Ranch  houses  are  not  supposed  to  be  fitted 
to  modern  comfort,  and  you  may  have  to 
"  put  up  with  things  "  relating  to  Insufficiently 

[40] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

heated  or  ground-floor  rooms,  poor  plumbing 
or  none  at  all,  limited  supply  of  hot  water — 
and  that  by  special  arrangement  with  "  cook  " 
— no  indoor  toilet  accommodations,  or  bath- 
room, miles  of  distance  between  you  and  the 
post-office,  the  nearest  doctor  and  the  drug- 
gist, and  likely  no  telephone  or  telegraph 
office  near.  If  you  become  ill  suddenly  and 
need  medical  attention  it  may  be  hours  reach- 
ing you,  while  sympathetic  care  and  scientific 
nursing  may  be  less  obtainable  than  if  you 
were  a  wounded  soldier  on  a  battlefield. 

Thoughts  of  early  rising,  of  riding  the 
farm  horse  daily  to  the  post-office,  of  watch- 
ing the  seeds  grow  and  of  making  friends 
with  the  pigs  and  chickens  may  form  quite  an 
idealistic  picture,  for  a  limited  time,  in  the 
brain  of  the  wearied  invalid;  but  at  best  these 
things  are  apt  to  be  overestimated  as  means 
to  health,  and  are  certainly  not  to  be  seriously 
entertained  as  compensations  for  the  aforesaid 
disadvantages. 

Again,  you  may  be  either  a  lone  boarder 
[41] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

at  this  ranch,  having  practically  no  compan- 
ionship and  left  to  eat  out  your  heart  in  weari- 
some dejection,  or  you  may  be  one  among  a 
community  of  invalids  seeking  health  like 
yourself,  and  drawn  thither  by  the  reputation 
of  that  particular  ranch. 

The  notion  that  one  can  get  better  air  and 
cheaper  board  at  a  ranch  is  largely  over- 
drawn. As  to  air,  the  populations  are  rela- 
tively so  small  and  non-compact,  even  in  the 
towns,  as  to  have  little  appreciable  effect  in 
contaminating  the  air;  while  as  to  board,  if  a 
ranchman  takes  you  at  all  he  will  want  quite 
as  much  out  of  your  finances  as  the  average 
town  boarding-house  keeper. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  overestimation  and 
delusion  about  the  superiority  of  ranch  life, 
and  if  you  are  sensible  you  will  first  take  up 
your  abode  within  the  precincts  of  some  town, 
to  get  your  bearings  and  view  the  possible 
allurements  of  ranch  life  from  a  nearer  van- 
tage ground.  Doubtless  a  few  weeks  of  it,  in 
the  warm  and  open  time  of  the  year,  may  be 

[42J 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

quite  pleasant,  even  jolly  if  you  happen  to  be 
with  "  your  own  crowd,"  and  provided  you 
are  strong  enough  to  enjoy  several  miles'  walk 
or  a  ten-mile  horseback  ride  daily;  but  there 
are  more  suitable  places  for  the  real  invalid. 

Boarding-houses  are  more  usually  chosen 
by  the  sojourners  in  the  West,  and  there  are 
several  good  reasons  why  this  is  so. 

There  are  plenty  of  them  to  be  found  in 
almost  any  Western  community,  which  in 
itself  tends  to  produce  that  kind  of  business 
competition  productive  of  comfort  to  the 
boarder. 

They  are  of  all  kinds  and  in  towns  of  say, 
ten  thousand  inhabitants  or  over,  they  range 
from  houses  fitted  with  the  most  modern 
plumbing,  electricity,  telephones,  and  a  very 
excellent  style  of  domestic  service  down  to  the 
simple  but  comfortable  home  of  the  ordinary 
mechanic's  family,  with  its  "  home  cooking," 
the  price  of  room  and  board  correspondingly 
varying  from  twenty-five  dollars  to  five  dol- 
lars a  week. 

[43] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

A  very  satisfactory  room  and  board  can 
be  had  in  such  cities  as  Denver  or  Colorado 
Springs  at  from  thirty-five  dollars  to  fifty  dol- 
lars a  month.  At  such  houses  the  invalid  is 
likely  to  get  a  good  table  and  a  cozy,  com- 
fortable room,  and  have  his  wants  generally 
looked  after  by  his  landlady.  He  will  usually 
not  lack,  either,  for  more  or  less  agreeable 
companionship  to  help  while  away  the  hours. 

A  boarding-house  home,  as  contrasted  with 
a  ranch  home,  gives  you  the  advantage  of 
easy  access  to  your  physician  or  other  helps, 
if  emergency  arises,  while  the  larger  commu- 
nity affords  change  of  thought  and  scene  be- 
cause of  its  more  varied  opportunities. 

As  to  sanatorium  life:  People  in  general 
entertain  a  sort  of  primitive  aversion  to  going 
into  a  sanatorium  as  a  place  to  regain  health. 
They  regard  it  somehow  as  a  kind  of  prison, 
and  feel  as  Dante  felt  when  he  read  that 
alarming  sentence  over  the  portal  to  hell, 
"  All  hope  abandon,  ye  who  enter  here."  But 
no  prejudice  can  be  less  founded  in  reason  or 
[44] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

experience,  and  the  timorous  individual  who 
has  crossed  that  dreadful  Rubicon  of  super- 
stition and  found,  by  blessed  personal  experi- 
ence, the  physical  helpfulness  and  mental  rest 
which  come  of  a  residence  in  one  of  these 
well-appointed  sanatoria  for  consumptives, 
looks  back  upon  his  earlier  fears  as  having 
occurred  in  a  period  when  he  "  felt  as  a  child 
and  thought  as  a  child." 

I  acknowledge  the  weakness,  or  rather  ig- 
norance, of  having  felt  the  same  sort  of  timid- 
ity when  I  first  went  West.  A  friend,  perhaps 
wiser  than  I,  had  mentioned  to  me  the  name 
of  a  sanatorium  in  Colorado  Springs,  as  prob- 
ably a  good  place  for  me  to  go  to.  "  Very 
likely,"  thought  I,  "  a  good  enough  place  for 
one  who  is  quite  hopeless — but  for  myself, 
no,  I  thank  you."  After  living  out  there  some 
months  I  had  occasion  to  spend  a  week  at  this 
sanatorium.  Those  few  days  dispelled  my 
prejudices. 

It  were  difficult  to  find  a  more  contented 
lot  of  people  anywhere.  Why  not?  There 
[45] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

was  food  of  excellent  quality,  daintily  served 
at  tables  spread  with  spotless  linen  in  a  large 
well-lighted  dining-room;  bedrooms  as  neat 
as  a  pin,  and  cozy  and  comfortable  as  your 
own  at  home;  sanitary  appliances  as  perfect 
as  art  can  produce,  and  the  scrupulous  enforce- 
ment of  sanitary  rules  throughout  the  house 
and  grounds,  which  results  in  making  such  a 
sanatorium  a  much  safer  place,  so  far  as  con- 
tagion is  concerned,  than  any  hotel  in  the 
world.  Beside  all  this,  a  doctor,  an  apothe- 
cary shop,  every  emergency  appliance,  and 
skilled  nurses  always  near;  cozy  parlors,  with 
piano  and  open  fireplace,  well  stocked  book 
shelves,  an  amusement  room  for  games,  per- 
haps a  billiard  room.  Often  there  are  indi- 
vidual tents  about  the  grounds  where  those 
who  prefer  to  can  sleep  nearer  to  earth  and 
sky.  What  is  there  not  in  such  a  sanatorium 
to  provide  one's  comfort?  The  whole  build- 
ing, with  its  every  appointment  and  particu- 
lar, is  the  embodiment  of  all  that  the  tnost 
advanced  science  has  discovered  tor  the  wcl- 
[46] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

fare  and  cure  of  the  consumptive.  Why 
should  it  not,  then,  be  the  best  place  and  the 
quickest  means  for  restoring  the  invalid? 

Accumulating  statistics  are  proving  it  to  be 
so:  a  larger  percentage  of  cures  is  being 
effected  through  the  ordered  life,  treatment 
and  methods  of  the  sanatorium  than  by  any 
other  known  course.  I  believe  it  is  not  ques- 
tionable that  whatever  the  patient's  condi- 
tion— and  all  the  better  if  he  is  not  very  ill — 
he  will  gain  far  more  steadily  if  he  spends  his 
first  months  in  such  a  place  than  he  is  likely 
to  gain  in  twice  the  time,  if  left  to  his  own 
undisciplined  guidance. 

This  fact  is  worth  thinking  about  seriously. 
Investigate  it  a  little  for  yourself.  Get  the 
opinion  of  your  physician  on  it,  and  of 
others — who  haven't  ideas  simply,  but  who 
know  without  prejudice. 

Perhaps  it  will  cost  you  a  little  more  to 
live  in  a  sanatorium  (their  rates  are  usually 
from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  a  week,  without 
extras)    than   in   a   medium-priced  boarding- 

[47] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

house;  but  If  the  living  is  better  and  your  gain 
is  to  be  faster,  the  probability  is  that  it  will 
prove  the  most  economical  kind  of  an  invest- 
ment. 

In  order  to  adopt  the  sanatorium  life,  it 
appears  that  about  all  you  have  to  overcome 
is  that  first  feeling  of  repugnance  to  making 
one  of  a  company  who  sit  around  in  steamer- 
chairs  and  wraps  and  whose  occasional  cough- 
ing isn't  quite  musical.  But,  my  dear  fellow, 
whether  or  not  you  wish  to  disguise  the  fact 
and  try  to  fool  yourself  with  forced  delusions, 
you  are  already,  by  circumstances  beyond  your 
control,  In  that  same  category;  so  instead  of 
foolishly  fighting  that  invincible  fact  you 
might  save  your  strength  and  courage  for 
better  purposes  by  gracefully  admitting  it 
and  letting  a  more  amiable  logic  aid  your 
recovery. 

You  are  not  the  only  fellow  who  has  had 
a  "  knock-out,"  neither  has  fate  been  particu- 
larly unkind  to  you  alone,  as  you  will  learn 
presently  when  you  get  to  exchanging  confi- 
[48] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

dences  with  some  in  that  company.  Very 
likely  there  will  be  a  slow,  silent  effect  upon 
your  heart  that  will  do  you  good,  just  as  every 
sorrow  is  gradually  made  easier  to  bear 
through  the  undefined  sympathy  of  closer  con- 
tact with  those  who  have  drunk  from  the  same 
wine-press.  Yes,  when  you  come  to  know 
them  you  will  find  men  and  women  among 
that  steamer-chair  community,  from  which 
you  so  lately  turned  away  in  aversion,  whose 
patience  will  make  you  ashamed  of  your  rest- 
lessness; men  of  reputation,  of  education,  of 
scientific  learning;  men  and  women  who  can 
discuss  your  chosen  hobby,  or  pleasantly  while 
away  your  idle  hours  with  discourse  of  travels 
and  experiences  and  past  acquaintanceships, 
leading  you  to  realize  anew  that  friends  and 
friendships  are  not  of  one  place  and  time 
alone,  but  are  as  broad  as  life's  pilgrimage. 

Day  by  day  that  once  formidable  sanato- 
rium community  will  resolve  itself  into  a  large 
family  whose  characteristics  will  interest  you 
increasingly,  as  you  learn  who  and  what  and 

[49] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

whence  they  are  and  your  own  heart  opens 
more  to  their  already  wilhng  helpfuhiess  tor 
you.  You  may  discover,  after  a  little,  that 
you  never  before  were  in  a  company  so  varied : 
among  them,  personalities  whose  culture  rep- 
resents the  best  homes  in  the  land;  strong 
characters  and  weak;  noble  souls,  generous, 
tender  and  sympathetic,  often  entertaining 
and  gracious;  all  of  them  broadened  and 
made  more  sensible  of  the  true  brotherhood 
of  man  through  having  their  several  tempta- 
tions to  petty  jealousy  and  grosser  overreach- 
ing burned  away  by  the  cleansing,  leveling, 
purifying  fire  that  has  borne  them,  severally, 
from  the  activities  of  life's  feverish  rush.  A 
silent  voice  is  teaching  their  souls  the  philoso- 
phy of  an  inner  life.  Then  do  not  look 
askance  at  the  invalids  in  a  sanatorium,  or 
regard  too  lightly  the  claims  which  such  an 
institution  may  rightly  prefer,  as  being  both 
a  home  and  a  means  to  restore  you  to  health; 
for  many  have  proved  them  true. 

I  have  known  people  who,  after  spending 

[50] 


WHERE -AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

some  months  at  one  of  these  places,  have  tried 
boarding  elsewhere,  have  longed  for  the  sana- 
torium again,  and  have  gone  back  to  it  sim- 
ply as  boarders,  for  it  appealed  to  them  finally 
as  the  most  homelike  place  to  be  found. 

This  is  my  advice:  if  you  are  very  sick,  go 
straight  to  a  sanatorium;  there  is  no  question 
of  its  being  the  best  place  for  you,  because 
your  case  is  serious  and  you  simply  cannot 
afford  to  trifle  with  experiments  or  waste 
your  most  valuable  asset,  time,  in  getting  rid 
of  prejudices  by  trying  everything  else  first. 
If  you  are  "not  at  all  sick" — only  a  little 
scratch  on  your  lung — you  certainly  will  lose 
nothing  and  will  be  allowing  yourself  a  wider 
margin  of  safety  by  early  applying  for  board 
at  a  first-class  sanatorium. 

Living  in  a  tent — which  generally  means 
sleeping  in  one  at  night  and  spending  the  day- 
time out-of-doors — is  much  in  vogue,  being 
frequently  prescribed  by  physicians.  Under 
certain  conditions  and  restrictions  it  has  the 
advantage  of  cheapness,  but  this  is  not  neces- 
[51] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

sarily  implied,  as  tent-life  may  be  carried  on 
in  a  manner  quite  as  expensive  as  any  other. 

The  matter  of  providing  good  meals  is  not 
to  be  overlooked,  since  suitable  food,  and 
plenty  of  it,  is  as  important  as  fresh  air,  and 
since  you  are  very  apt  to  slight  your  diet  if 
you  have  to  prepare  and  cook  the  food  your- 
self, it  is  much  better  to  pitch  your  tent  in 
proximity  to  a  boarding-house,  where  you  can 
and  will  eat  your  three  square  meals  a  day. 
Don't  try  living  on  canned  foods  and  the 
numerous  wheat  and  hay  preparations  only, 
or  even  chiefly.  Every  day  you  will  need 
some  hot,  well-cooked  meat  and  other  food, 
quite  likely  plenty  of  milk  and  some  raw  eggs. 
Whatever  you  do,  don't  try  to  skimp  on  your 
diet!  Remember  that  the  food  you  put  into 
your  human  boiler  is  the  only  thing  that  can 
keep  up  your  strength  and  also  repair  the  now 
unusual  waste,  and  unless  your  system  can 
renew  itself  and  gradually  gain  over  the  daily 
depletion  going  on,  the  disease  will  gain  on 
you! 

[52] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

Sanatoria  quite  often  have  a  few  tents  on 
some  part  of  their  premises,  in  which  those 
patients  who  prefer  to,  or  for  whom  it  is  or- 
dered, can  sleep  out  and  at  the  same  time  have 
all  the  advantages  of  the  institution,  eating 
in  the  dining-room,  using  the  croquet  grounds, 
porches,  etc. 

It  is  also  not  unusual  for  boarding-houses 
to  have  one  or  more  tents,  tent-houses,  or  tent- 
porches  to  be  used  in  conjunction  with  the 
regular  house  table  and  other  domestic  facili- 
ties. A  tent-porch  is  either  a  small  floor 
balcony  extending  outside  of  one  of  the  bed- 
rooms, enclosed  by  canvas  and  just  big  enough 
to  hold  one  or  two  iron  bedsteads,  or  it  is 
a  section  of  the  general  porch,  set  apart  and 
enclosed  by  canvas.  In  either  case,  ingress 
and  egress  are  customarily  through  a  door  or 
window  to  the  adjoining  room  in  which  the 
occupant  dresses  and  undresses,  going  thence 
out  into  the  porch-tent  to  sleep.  These  tents 
have  one  advantage  over  the  ground  tents, 
especially  for  those  of  rheumatic  tendency,  in 

[53] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

being  higher  oft'  the  earth.  They  are,  how- 
ever, necessarily  limited  in  numbers,  as  few- 
houses  can  spare  their  porches  for  such  exclu- 
sive use. 

The  usual  tent  is  the  familiar  A-type  of 
canvas  covering,  built  upon  the  ground.  For 
this  purpose  a  thoroughly  dry  piece  of  ground 
must  be  selected,  sandy  soil  if  possible,  and 
there  must  always  be  a  good  board  floor 
within,  raised  from  four  to  six  inches  oft  the 
ground,  so  that  there  may  be  a  free  circula- 
tion of  air  underneath  to  insure  dryness. 

Since  a  tent  must  lack  water  and  sanitary 
facilities,  it  is  desirable  that  it  be  pitched  with- 
in easy  access  of  a  house,  or  at  least  of  some 
pure  water  supply.  By  the  way,  don't  trust 
running  brooks,  even  mountain  brooks,  too 
implicitly  without  inquiring  as  to  their  purity, 
especially  if  there  be  houses,  camps  or  picnic 
grounds  in  the  neighborhood.  I  have  known 
of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  contracted  from 
sparkling  mountain  brooks,  very  innocent- 
looking  but  befouled  by  careless  campers. 
[54] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

Don't  forget,  either,  the  Importance  to  your 
comfort  of  pitching  your  tent  where  it  will 
get  the  cast  shadow  of  a  tree  or  some  other 
object  during  the  hotter  hours  of  the  after- 
noon, for  a  tent  out  in  the  blazing  sun  of  a 
July  or  August  afternoon  is  nearly  an  Impos- 
sible place  to  stay  in  during  just  those  hours 
when  you  might  wish  to  lie  down  in  seclu- 
sion. Every  tent  should  be  provided  wnth 
an  over-cover  of  canvas,  called  a  "  fly,"  which 
is  stretched  several  inches  above  the  true  tent 
roof.  The  use  of  this  fly  is  to  break  the  force 
both  of  the  sun's  rays  and  of  occasional  hard 
rains  which  otherwise  would  penetrate  the 
single  canvas  wall.  Sometimes  another 
smaller  fly  is  projected  outward  from  the  tent 
doorway,  under  which  you  can  sit  on  a  camp 
chair  enjoying  the  quiet  scenery  or  a  good 
book  and  feel  that  you  are  quite  a  monarch 
on  a  small  scale. 

The  chief  value  in  tenting  is  that  you  sleep 
out-of-doors  (you  are  supposed  to  keep  out- 
of-doors   in   the   daytime   anyway),    and   get 

[55] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

more  fresh  air  than  you  would  sleeping  in  a 
bedroom;  not  that  fresh  air  and  plenty  of  it 
cannot  be  had  in  a  bedroom  provided  enough 
windows  are  kept  open,  but  too  often  the 
patient  cannot  be  depended  upon  to  keep  the 
windows  open,  while  in  a  tent  he  cannot  pre- 
vent a  certain  percolation  of  fresh  air  through 
the  canvas  walls.  But  this  natural  percolation 
is  not  now  considered  quite  sufficient  of  itself, 
so  that  several  improvements  have  been  de- 
vised, notably  by  a  leading  physician,^  and 
such  improved  tents  are  to  be  had  from  the 
principal  tent-makers  of  the  large  Western 
cities.  The  improvements  consist  mainly  of 
a  ventilation  opening  in  the  apex  of  the  tent, 
covered  by  a  regulating  cone,  and  of  a 
channel-like,  screen-covered  orifice  extending 
around  the  inside  lowermost  edge  of  the  tent 
wall  and  open  to  the  outside  atmosphere;  by 
which  double  arrangement  air  is  constantly 
entering  all  round  the  tent,  at  the  floor  line, 


'  Designed   by   Dr.  C.   F.  Gardini :r   an.l   known   as   llie 
Gardiner  tent. 

[S6] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

and  passing  up  and  out  through  the  top  vent. 

The  patent  tents  are  much  more  costly  than 
the  ordinary  form  and  it  may  not  be  expedi- 
ent to  purchase  one,  but  the  tent-dweller 
should  at  least  provide  some  sort  of  covered 
outlet,  to  be  opened  or  closed  at  will,  at  some 
high  point  in  his  tent  wall,  as  this  simple 
expedient  will  be  found  to  improve  ventila- 
tion. 

There  is  a  modified  form  of  tent  known  as 
a  tent-house,  a  kind  of  cross  between  a  tiny 
house  and  a  tent,  combining  the  desirable 
features  of  both.  This  is  essentially  a  board 
floor  with  a  shingle  roof  extending  completely 
over  it.  About  one-half  of  this  area  is  en- 
closed by  four  board  walls,  making  a  complete 
room  about  yx  12  feet,  with  windows  and 
door,  and  holding  a  couch,  stove,  washstand, 
chair,  small  table,  clothes-press  and  bookshelf 
— really  quite  an  ideal  little  den.  The  other 
half  of  the  area  is  enclosed  by  canvas  or  by 
wire  screens  and  curtains,  and  contains  the 
iron  bedstead.     This  arrangement  permits  of 

[57] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

sleeping  out-of-doors,  screened  from  flies  and 
other  insects,  and  provides  a  cozy,  warm  room 
for  dressing  and  other  uses.  It  seems  much 
superior  in  accommodation  and  comfort  to 
any  tent.  Its  cost,  for  the  size  mentioned, 
would  be  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars,  exclusive  of  furnishings. 

What  is  known  as  the  "  Chicago  Portable 
House  "  is  also  convenient,  and  is  the  least 
expensive  form  of  a  fully  enclosed  room.  It 
is  built  entirely  of  wood,  lined  with  building- 
paper  for  extra  warmth,  and  has  doors  and 
windows  to  suit.  Its  cost,  for  a  room  twelve 
feet  wide  is  about  five  dollars  per  lineal  foot 
of  depth,  making  a  12  x  12-foot  room  cost 
only  about  sixty  dollars.  It  is  built  up  and 
taken  apart  in  sections,  making  it  transport- 
able. A  couple  can  live  quite  comfortably  in 
such  a  portable  house,  and  at  the  minimum  of 
expense. 

Tenting,  however,  seems  to  afford  the 
cheapest  opportunity  for  the  really  poor  man 
to    maintain    himself,    since    an    8x10    tent 

[5SJ 


WHERE    AND    HOW   TO    LIVE 

with  a  fly,  poles,  ropes,  etc.,  big  enough  for  a 
single  individual,  can  be  bought  (in  Denver) 
for  about  ten  dollars.  The  wooden  floor,  if 
he  employs  a  carpenter  and  uses  new  lumber, 
will  cost  nearly  as  much  as  the  tent,  but  might 
be  constructed  in  homemade  style  with  sec- 
ond-hand lumber  for  two  dollars.  A  canvas 
cot  costs  about  one  dollar  and  a  half;  a  small 
wood-burning,  sheet-iron  cook-stove  (used  in 
cold  weather  for  warmth),  three  dollars;  a 
camp-chair,  fifty  cents;  plain  bedding,  say 
eight  dollars.  But  this  would  be  a  rather 
lonely  way  to  get  on  for  any  length  of  time, 
and,  since  food  would  cost  quite  three  dollars, 
the  saving  would  be  only  about  two  dollars 
a  week  over  the  cheapest  boarding-house. 
However,  it  might  be  preferred  for  health's 
sake. 

A  man  and  wife  together  can  live  in  a  tent 
on  but  little  more  than  it  would  cost  one 
alone,  and  the  companionship  and  helpfulness 
of  it  would  make  tenting  not  only  endurable, 
but  happy.  The  question  might  be  asked 
[59] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

here :  Is  there  not  danger  to  the  well  person 
from  dwelling  in  such  close  proximity  to  the 
sick  one?  There  need  not  be  if  the  proper 
precautions  ^  are  observed.  The  tent  should 
be  of  a  somewhat  larger  size,  naturally,  to 
accommodate  two  single  beds,  chairs  and  a 
closet. 

The  whole  question  as  to  the  advisability 
of  living  in  a  tent  would  better  be  left  until 
you  are  on  the  ground  and  have  the  advice 
of  the  local  physician  there.  It  is  not  always 
and  everywhere  equally  advisable  for  every 
patient.  While  some  are  undoubtedly  bene- 
fited by  tenting,  under  the  right  conditions,  all 
are  not.  Let  the  doctor  decide  it  for  your 
case. 

Housekeeping.  Of  course  the  ideal  way 
to  live  in  a  Western  community,  as  anywhere 
else  on  earth,  is  for  the  married  man  or 
woman  and  the  family  to  live  regularly  in 
their   own   comfortable    home.       This   home 


See  Chapter  XI. 

[60] 


WHERE    AND    HOW    TO    LIVE 

may  be  only  a  rented  house;  no  matter,  it  is 
yours  for  the  time  being  and  may  be  enjoyed 
no  less  than  if  you  held  the  title-deed.  In- 
deed, on  the  whole  it  is  rather  better  to  rent 
a  home  before  owning  one:  it  gives  oppor- 
tunity to  test  conditions  and  environment  be- 
fore pledging  yourself  to  a  permanent  invest- 
ment. Sometimes  desirable  furnished  houses 
can  be  rented  for  a  few  months,  while  the 
owners  are  away,  at  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
dollars  or  more  a  month.  In  the  larger  towns 
you  may  find  one  or  more  apartment  houses, 
where  fiats  or  suites  of  rooms — usually  unfur- 
nished— may  be  rented  for  housekeeping. 
The  average  rent  of  such  unfurnished  suites 
is  from  forty  to  seventy-five  dollars  per 
month,  including  steam  heat  and  janitor 
service. 

Furnished  rooms  without  board  can  often 
be  rented  in  semi-private  houses,  desirably 
located,  and  may  sometimes  be  had  in  suites 
as  well  as  singly.  This  plan  Implies  going 
out  to  meals,  but  meals  of  a  good  quality  can 
[6i] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

usually  be  obtained  in  the  near  neighborhood, 
at  from  five  to  eight  dollars  per  week.  The 
rooms  would  cost  from  eight  to  twenty-five 
dollars  apiece  per  month,  including  linen  and 
service,  ordinary  lighting  and  heating. 


[62] 


MARITAL   OBLIGATIONS 

However  desirable  it  may  seem,  from  the 
standpoint  of  sentiment,  to  have  one's  family 
with  one  in  the  West,  there  are  many  other 
important  considerations  to  be  weighed. 

The  question  of  maintaining  a  family,  in 
an  utterly  new  environment,  with  little  or  no 
opportunity  to  earn  the  means  of  their  support 
for  perhaps  an  indefinite  period,  is  certainly 
important,  unless  you  have  a  sufficient  assured 
income. 

The  family  life  is  more  deeply  rooted  in 
its  old  habitat  than  is  likely  to  be  fully  appre- 
ciated until  it  is  wrenched  loose,  and  although 
the  transplanting  may,  in  the  sequel,  prove 
advantageous,  that  outcome  is  not  too  lightly 
to  be  assumed.     Generally  speaking,  it  is  bet- 

[63] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

ter  that  the  invalid  first  spend  a  few  months 
in  his  new  location  (preferably  with  some 
one  member  of  his  family  along)  when,  if 
his  stay  seems  likely  to  be  indefinitely  pro- 
longed, a  general  transplanting  may  be  de- 
sired. 

In  the  case  of  a  married  man  or  woman  this 
becomes  a  very  serious  consideration,  and  if 
there  are  no  children  involved  there  is  hardly 
a  question  in  my  mind  as  to  what  should  be 
done :  they  should  certainly  be  together,  what- 
ever hardship  this  might  involve  for  the  well 
one. 

I  can  understand  that  it  means  very  much 
for  a  husband  and  father  to  give  up  a  lucra- 
tive business  or  profession  in  the  city  where 
he  has  spent  years  of  hard  endeavor  to  build 
it  up,  and  to  depend  upon  the  hazard  of  for- 
tune to  prove  as  propitious  elsewhere.  Also, 
it  means  much  for  a  wife  and  mother  to  give 
up  all  her  personal  friendships  and  the  social 
activities  to  which  she  has  become  accustomed 
and  to  count  upon  the  new  and  untried  en- 
[64] 


MARITAL   OBLIGATIONS 

vironment  to  harmonize  with  her  own  social 
instincts  and  prejudices. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  mean  worse  than 
all  this:  it  sometimes  means  ultimate  wreck- 
ing of  marital  ties  and  family  life  for  husband 
or  wife  to  permit  too  long  a  separation  and 
living  alone.  Writing  letters  will  not  always 
satisfy;  the  human  heart  sometimes  needs  the 
physical  touch  of  a  sympathetic  hand,  the 
ministering  solace  of  the  audible  voice  of  love. 
If  these  are  important  in  health,  how  much 
greater  is  their  value  when  ill  health  tends  to 
separate  the  invalid  from  the  usual  opportuni- 
ties of  life.  The  responsibility  rests  with  the 
helpmate  who  is  well,  that  there  be  not  even 
the  suspicion  of  desertion  at  such  a  time.  It  is 
then  that  the  heart  leans  on  love  and  fidelity; 
or  else,  being  disappointed,  it  is  enlisted  grad- 
ually by  a  nearer  sympathy. 

I  hope  my  readers  will  pardon  it  if  I  seem 

to  be  preaching  a  little  homily  on  this  topic 

of  marital  fidelity  to  the  sick  one.     I  know 

that  the  very  suggestion  ought  to  seem  unnec- 

[65] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

essary  if  not  unreasonable,  but  I  have  person- 
ally witnessed  too  many  failures  along  this 
line  to  believe  it  is  unnecessary',  for  some  are 
thoughtless. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  long  separa- 
tion between  husband  and  wife  is  premedi- 
tated or  begins  from  choice.  It  usually  begins 
by  the  invalid  wife's  being  sent  away  for 
health's  sake,  the  husband  meantime  believing 
there  is  no  necessity  for  him  also  to  leave 
home,  but  that  matters  will  be  better  if  he 
remain  at  business,  and  that  anyway  his  wife 
will  soon  be  cured  and  able  to  return.  Once 
in  a  while  it  happens  that  way,  but  usually 
the  invalid's  possible  date  of  return  is  very 
much  farther  off  than  was  anticipated.  The 
hope  which  for  months  sufficed  begins  to  grow 
faint  through  too  long  waiting  for  the  re- 
union. When  things  come  to  this  pass  it  is 
time  something  be  done;  if,  as  often  happens, 
the  patient  cannot  return  in  safety  to  the 
former  home,  the  only  alternative  is  that  the 
well  member  go  and  help  make  home  anew. 
[66] 


MARITAL    OBLIGATIONS 

This  must  often  Involve  great  sacrifice,  but  if 
not  done,  there  is  too  frequently  a  complete 
breaking  of  marital  ties,  if  not  the  real  break- 
ing of  a  human  heart. 

To  an  invalid  in  such  a  case,  it  actually 
seems  like  sarcasm  when  perfectly  well, 
strong  people,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  their 
own  domestic  felicities,  offer  pious  suggestions 
to  the  effect  that,  if  two  people  love  each 
other,  they  ought  to  be  able  to  remain  per- 
fectly loving  and  loyal,  no  matter  how  many 
years  they  are  separated;  and  If  they  don't 
love  each  other — well,  they  ought  to  act  in 
just  the  same  way,  because  they  promised  to. 
This  may  be  supposed  a  beautiful  theory,  but 
It  Is  not  the  way  of  actual  human  life  about 
which  I  am  talking.  Nor,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
do  human  beings  knowingly  make  a  contract 
to  remain  loyal  to  each  other  without  the 
Implied  contract  that  they  are  to  continue  In 
the  enjoyment  of  each  other's  companionship. 
The  persistent  refusal  of  companionship,  even 
though  on  pretended  grounds  of  expediency, 

[67] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

may  well   raise   the   question  of  justice   and 
right. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  there  is  a  limit, 
varying  with  individual  temperament,  beyond 
which  absence  does  not  "  make  the  heart  grow 
fonder,"  but  has  the  opposite  effect.  Con- 
sider also  that  the  tuberculosis  invalid  espe- 
cially, being  out  of  normal  relations  with  his 
or  her  family  and  society,  is  sensitive  to  slights 
or  neglect,  and  a  separation  which,  in  ordinary 
health,  would  not  cause  much  disquietude 
easily  becomes  augmented  in  the  brooding 
mind  into  a  thoughtless,  if  not  unpardonable, 
neglect.  It  is  practically  the  same  whether 
the  wife  or  the  husband  is  the  expatriate,  and 
it  is  useless  to  deny  that  there  can  come  to 
be  a  real  menace  in  the  situation,  no  matter 
how  good  the  intentions  to  start  with :  there- 
fore, no  wife,  no  husband,  should  permit  the 
other  to  continue  living  so;  it  were  far  better 
to  give  up  all  material  advantages  or  pros- 
pects and  live  there  together,  if  need  be  in  a 
one-room  portable  house,  on  the  minimum  of 
expense,  rather  than  grow  estranged  through 
[68] 


MARITAL    OBLIGATIONS 

too  long  separation  and  neglect.  That  is 
simply  justice. 

Many  communities  of  the  West — in  fact 
it  might  be  said  that  all  the  large  cities,  in- 
cluding Denver — are  largely  built  up  of  fam- 
ilies transplanted  from  the  East.  In  many 
cases,  an  invalid  father  or  mother,  son  or 
daughter,  in  search  of  health,  has  been  the 
first  to  go.  Finally  the  whole  family  has  fol- 
lowed, gone  to  housekeeping,  engaged  in  busi- 
ness, and  otherwise  become  absorbed  in  the 
activities  of  the  young  and  rapidly  growing 
city,  where  talent  and  ability  count  and  repu- 
tations are  more  quickly  made. 

Men  or  Avomen  whom  circumstances,  in 
their  former  home,  would  have  forever  kept 
below  the  horizon  of  recognition,  will  often, 
in  this  ampler  air  of  the  West,  rise  to  com- 
parative importance.  Competition  is  not  so 
cruelly  keen,  and  business  and  social  emula- 
tion possess  a  kindlier  spirit. 

A  relatively  small  income  suffices,  in  the 
West,  for  a  family  to  live  upon  in  comfort 
and  respectability,  and  schools  are  unexcelled. 
[69] 


VI 

GETTING   EMPLOYMENT 

I  REALIZE  that  in  this  chapter  I  must  discuss 
that  which,  to  the  majority  of  invahds  going 
West,  is  perhaps  the  most  vital  of  questions — 
so  much  seems  to  them  to  hang  upon  the 
answer  to  the  question  whether  or  not  they 
can  get  suitable  and  sustaining  employment 
after  arriving  there. 

There  are  very  positive  reasons  why  no 
tuberculosis  invalid  should  attempt  to  take 
any  sort  of  business  obligation  immediately 
after  arriving,  or  indeed  for  some  months 
after.  These  reasons  are  not  likely  to  be 
apprehended  by  the  patient  himself  until  he 
attains  a  more  definite  idea  of  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  disease.  This  matter  is  so  im- 
portant that  it  is  treated  in  a  separate  chapter^ 

*  See  Chapter  X  on  "The  Nature  of  the  Disease." 

[70] 


GETTING    EMPLOYMENT 

for  the  benefit  of  the  patient  who  would  be 
properly  on  his  guard. 

Suppose  the  inquirer  has  become  well 
enough  to  accept  employment:  what  are  his 
opportunities  for  obtaining  It? 

The  question  might  be  answered  generally 
and  optimistically,  If  somewhat  vaguely,  by 
pointing  to  the  growing  towns  and  multiply- 
ing pursuits,  with  the  remark  that  these  peo- 
ple are  existing  and  therefore  they  must  have 
discovered  a  means  of  living:  why  not  you? 
The  argument  Is  valid  as  far  as  It  goes,  but  it 
usually  requires  time  and  a  watching  of 
opportunities  before  any  particular  individual 
settles  Into  his  own  niche  of  money-making, 
and  before  this  Is  found  he  has  not  improb- 
ably sought  long  and  discouraglngly  for  the 
opportunity,  especially  if  he  has  been  looking 
for  a  salaried  position  on  half-time. 

Apples  of  gold  no  more  hang  upon  the 
trees  in  the  West  than  they  do  elsewhere. 

Sometimes  the  geographical  position  of  a 
new   town   with   reference   to    a    newly    dis- 
[71] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN  THE  WEST 

covered  source  of  wealth,  such  as  a  gold  camp, 
or  a  cattle  center,  gives  it  a  sudden  accelera- 
tion in  business  prosperity.  The  cause  may 
remain  fairly  permanent,  in  which  case  the 
town  becomes  a  strong  and  healthy  city  finan- 
cially; or  it  may  be  merely  ephemeral,  in 
which  case  the  town  with  all  its  dependent 
business  and  values,  after  its  first  sky-rocket 
boom,  shrinks  and  withers,  or  at  best  pre- 
serves a  precarious  existence. 

During  the  first  period  of  any  such  "boom" 
town,  everybody  in  its  vicinity  seems  infected 
with  an  unmitigated  exaggeration  of  possi- 
bilities, among  them,  that  there  is  to  be  plenty 
of  work  and  prosperity  for  all  who  wish  to 
come.  Then  follows  the  temporary  onrush 
of  humanity.  The  few  prizes  are  captured, 
as  always,  by  the  strong  and  daring.  The 
supply  of  workers  overruns  the  fictitious  de- 
mand, and  conditions  soon  subside  to  their 
truer  level  in  which  a  large  portion  of  the 
unnatural  population  may  be  on  the  verge  of 
actual  want. 

[72] 


GETTING    EMPLOYMENT 

Romantic  stories  of  such  sudden  leaping 
into  prosperity  and  wealth,  with  a  correspond- 
ing forgetfulness  of  the  collapse,  are  probably 
cherished  in  some  remote  corner  of  many  an 
American's  brain,  to  be  drawn  upon  hope- 
fully at  will.  That  sort  of  reliance  may  go 
under  the  name  of  optimism,  if  you  like,  and 
there  is  no  objection  to  anyone's  trying  his 
own  experiment  as  to  its  truth  and  depend- 
ability— provided  he  has  a  comfortable  purse 
to  sustain  defeat! 

Rationally,  no  sane  man  of  caution,  espe- 
cially no  Invalid,  Is  justified  in  depending  for 
his  living  upon  any  such  glowing  picture  of 
"  opportunity  for  all  "  in  a  town  yet  so  young 
as  not  to  be  out  of  Its  swaddling-clothes.  The 
town  may  be  all  right  In  Itself,  a  healthy 
youngster  with  real  promise,  but  it  were  Irra- 
tional to  expect  it  to  feed  and  clothe  every 
stranger  who  imposed  his  society  there. 

For  all  that  is  worth  considering,  then,  the 
Individual's  opportunity  for  obtaining  em- 
ployment is  not  very  unlike  what  it  would  be 

[73] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

in  the  favored  towns  of  equal  population  in 
the  East,  with  an  equal  percentage  of  appli- 
cants for  positions.  Suppose,  instead  of 
imagining  that  opportunities  for  employment 
are  numerous  in  the  vague  West,  one  reflects 
a  little  upon  his  probable  success  in  getting 
similar  employment,  should  he  apply  for  it 
as  a  stranger,  In  some  town  of  one  thousand, 
five  thousand,  or  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  in 
any  Eastern  state.  Would  he  not  have  to 
hunt  around  a  bit,  suffer  discouragement,  and 
perhaps  accept  a  comparatively  humble  posi- 
tion In  order  to  get  any  foothold  at  all  ? 

If  this  would  be  so  In  the  long-established 
towns  of  the  East,  is  it  not  really  unfair  to  de- 
mand and  expect  that  young  Western  towns, 
generously  as  they  will  welcome  the  new- 
comer, can  offer,  offhand,  remunerative  em- 
ployment to  any  and  all  who  wish  to  stay?  ^ 


1  "  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  Colorado  has  more  positions 
than  people  to  fill  them,  or  that  it  is  especially  easy  to  get 
remunerative  employment,  for  such  is  not  the  case.  But 
talent  and  ability  can  find  scope  for  their  exercise  here  as 
promising  as  elsewhere." — Dr.  H.  B.  Moore. 

[74] 


GETTING    EMPLOYMENT 

Doubtless  you  will  find  your  niche  in  time, 
although  it  may  be  something  quite  different 
from  what  you  had  in  mind.  Meantime,  a 
man  may  have  to  resort  to  expedients  and 
even  occupy  humble  positions  which  "  go 
against  the  grain  "  of  his  prejudices.  It  is 
very  often  not  a  case  of  choosing  among 
opportunities  so  much  as  it  is  of  accepting  the 
first,  and  possibly  only,  one  that  comes  along 
and  using  that  as  a  stepping-stone. 

When  a  man  is  handicapped  by  limited 
strength  which  prohibits  more  than  three  to 
five  hours  of  work  a  day,  and  when  a  hundred 
or  more  others  like  him  are  eagerly  looking 
for  similar  short-hour  service,  he  may  feel 
fortunate  if  he  can  secure  such  a  berth  at  from 
thirty  to  forty  dollars  a  month. 

The  dearth  of  opportunities  for  short-day 
service  together  with  the  almost  certain  hind- 
rance to  health  of  an  all-day  employment  in- 
doors has  led  many  men  to  take  employment 
as  street-car  conductors  or  as  drivers  of  hacks, 
delivery  wagons,  etc.,  where  they  can  at  least 

[75] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

be  hourly  in  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine.  But 
even  these  employments,  since  they  require 
the  daily  expenditure  of  not  a  small  amount 
of  vital  force,  cannot  be  assumed  by  the  very 
weak. 

When  one  becomes  stronger  and  well 
enough  for  a  full  day's  service  In  ordinary 
business,  the  field  of  possibilities  widens. 

All  branches  of  the  mechanic  trades,  espe- 
cially such  as  are  related  to  building,  are,  as 
a  rule,  ready  to  give  fair  employment  to  good 
workmen.  Trade  unionism  Is  strong.  Wages 
In  all  of  these  lines  are  good,  but  the  employ- 
ment Is  apt  to  fluctuate  with  the  presence 
or  absence  of  a  "  boom  "  In  any  particular 
locality.  However,  taking  it  in  the  long  run, 
the  mechanic  probably  stands  a  better  chance 
of  employment  and  of  earning  more  wages  in 
the  year  than  the  average  clerk. 

The  artisan,  also,  has  a  fair  chance  of  em- 
ployment, but  pure  art  has,  as  yet,  little 
encouragement  from  remuneration. 

The  professional  and  semi-professional 
[76] 


GETTING    EMPLOYMENT 

classes  of  workers,  such  as  doctors,  surgeons, 
oculists,  dentists,  etc.,  seem  to  make  a  living, 
while  the  number  of  lawyers  who  thrive,  or 
appear  to,  is  sufficient  to  give  the  Impression 
that  "  Westerners  "  must  be  a  people  ad- 
dicted to  litigation.  But  In  alluding  to  these 
latter  classes  I  am  going  rather  outside  the 
bounds  of  salaried  positions. 

Both  men  and  women  with  ability  as  teach- 
ers would  stand  a  chance  of  employment 
either  in  regular  Institutions,  or  by  possible 
coaching,  or  by  taking  a  few  pupils.  Music 
teachers,  good  pianists,  In  particular,  often 
earn  a  good  living  by  taking  private  pupils. 
Outside  of  a  few  lines,  women  probably  have 
fewer  chances  of  employment  than  men, 
unless  domestic  service  be  taken  into  account. 
In  that  their  field  Is  practically  unlimited: 
such  service  is  always  in  demand  at  high 
wages,  twenty-five  dollars  a  month  being  an 
average  wage,  with  a  comfortable  room  and 
good  board  thrown  in.  This  class  of  service 
in  the  West  Is  quite  different,  too,  from  what 

[77] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

one  is  accustomed  to  In  our  large  Eastern 
cities:  those  seeking  domestic  service  being 
often  the  educated  daughters  of  prosperous 
farmers  of  Kansas,  Iowa,  etc.,  who  tal<^e  up 
the  occupation  for  a  year  or  two,  in  order  to 
be  self-supporting  or  to  gain  a  change  of 
horizon  from  that  of  their  accustomed  farm 
life. 

This  matter  of  finding  salaried  employment 
I  have  been  able  to  treat  only  in  a  very  gen- 
eral way,  and  with  a  purposed  intent  to  err 
on  the  side  of  conservative  statements. 
Almost  any  real  "  Western  "  man  can  paint 
you  roseate  pictures  in  abundance.  They 
seem  unable  to  help  it.  Optimism,  of  which 
the  West  is  full,  is  not  apt  to  produce  too  con- 
servative reports.  Perhaps  it  is  well  for  the 
West  that  this  has  been  so :  it  has  helped  It  to 
grow. 

Time,  local  conditions,  personal  ability  or 
popularity,  the  making  of  a  friend,  a  concur- 
rence of  unforeseen  circumstances,  perhaps  a 
chance   and   the   taking   hold   of   a    passing 

[78] 


GETTING    EMPLOYMENT 

opportunity — any  of  these  may  lead  you  on 
to  prosperity. 

The  man  who  is  not  simply  seeking  a 
"  position,"  but  who  has  money  to  invest  in 
business  enterprises,  need  not  be  long  without 
occupation  or  some  definite  interest.  Aside 
from  speculation  he  has  two  alternatives  at 
least:  either  to  buy  a  partnership  in  some 
already  established  business,  or  to  start  a  new 
one.  The  local  chamber  of  commerce  in  any 
town  will  gladly  give  him  information  as  to 
what  kinds  of  new  enterprises  seem  to  be 
demanded  there. 

The  West  is  still  very  young,  with  practi- 
cally no  limit  as  to  what  it  may  become.  Con- 
ditions there  are  changing  so  rapidly  that  the 
limitations  of  to-day  may  become  opportuni- 
ties to-morrow.  And  so,  while  I  >  have 
discussed  this  subject  in  a  spirit  of  caution, 
there  is  really  no  reason  for  your  adopting  a 
discouraging  view.  Taking  it  city  for  city, 
town  for  town,  with  equal  populations,  those 
of  the  West  probably  offer  larger  opportuni- 

[79] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

ties  for  employment  than  those  in  any  other 
part  of  the  country.  There  is  less  of  con- 
servatism, more  of  the  confident  stimulus  of 
youth  in  them,  and  these  things  alone  are 
factors  in  success  and  growth. 

The  West  is  bound  to  become,  at  no  very 
distant  day,  a  great  empire  in  itself,  where 
opportunity  must  rival  anything  yet  known  in 
the  world's  history. 

Already  the  moving  spirits,  the  strong 
men,  the  rich  men  in  that  new  empire  are 
often  the  very  same  men  who,  years  ago,  left 
dearest  hopes  in  the  East  and,  ill  and  crest- 
fallen, took  what  they  supposed  to  be  a  hope- 
less journey  to  an  unknown  region — to  die! 
And  these  men  have  not  absorbed  all  oppor- 
tunity to  themselves,  but  rather  their  pioneer 
service  has  but  made  further  opportunity'  for 
others  coming  after:  why  not  also  for  you? 


[80] 


CHAPTER    VII 

HOW    TO    AVOID    LONELINESS 

One  of  the  most  valuable  assets  to  the  re- 
covery of  health  is  the  possession  of  a  cheery 
disposition. 

If  you  don't  possess  one  naturally,  try  to 
cultivate  one. 

In  the  first  place,  rid  yourself  at  once  of 
that  uncomfortable  state  of  mind  which  sees 
only  profound  misfortune  in  your  having  to 
go  away  from  home  to  get  well.  It  may 
prove,  in  the  end,  one  of  the  most  fortunate 
necessities  of  your  life,  as  it  has  proved  to  be 
for  others. 

Get  rid  of  the  feeling  that  "  now  you  are 
in  for  it  you  will  try  to  endure  it."     It  is 
possible  to  do  much  better  than  endure :  it  is 
perfectly  possible  to  enjoy  it. 
[8i] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

Antagonism  of  all  sorts  is  to  be  put  in  a 
bag  and  dumped  overboard. 

Look  at  things  philosophically  and  you 
may  soon  learn  to  be  happy.  Don't  permit 
your  thoughts  to  dwell  regretfully  on  your 
lost  opportunities  in  the  East,  or  sarcastically 
compare  the  simpler  life  of  your  new  abode 
with  the  rush  and  glamour  of  a  great  metropo- 
lis. When  you  stop  to  reflect  that  those 
wider  opportunities,  as  you  consider  them, 
and  all  commingling  w^ith  metropolitan  life 
had  already  been  forfeited  by  reason  of  your 
invalidism  which,  had  you  remained  there, 
would  speedily  have  put  you  forever  out  of 
the  realm  of  mortals,  the  comparison  is  no 
longer  a  just  one.  You  have  reason  to  feel 
thankful  that  under  restricted  conditions  your 
life  is  yet  spared  you  and  that  these  very 
restrictions  may  ultimately  prove  the  means 
whereby  you  shall  find  other  avenues  of  use- 
fulness and  enlargement  of  your  prosperity. 

Do  not  fret  yourself,  either,  because  of  a 
present  lack  of  "  business."     After  all,  have 

[82] 


HOW    TO    AVOID    LONELINESS 

you  not  simply  substituted  another  business 
of  a  different  kind?  Instead  of  a  business 
having  money-getting  as  its  chief  object,  you 
now  have  on  hand  the  business  of  getting  well ! 
And  isn't  that  quite  as  valuable  to  you  per- 
sonally as  any  other  result?  I  sometimes 
think  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  the  "  spoiled 
child  "  still  remaining  in  our  grown-up 
natures,  which  is  prone  to  whimper  when 
everything  doesn't  go  exactly  as  we  want  it : 
we  still  have  the  desire  to  possess  both  the 
penny  and  the  cake. 

Be  sensible!  Your  body  needs  rest  and 
your  mind  needs  relief  from  worry  and  re- 
gret; it  needs  also  pleasant  diversion.  Per- 
haps you  have  been  needing  these  things  for 
many  months  past,  and  you  wouldn't  give  up 
and  take  them.  Now  Nature  has  taken  the 
matter  in  hand  and,  with  a  sound  metaphori- 
cal cuff  to  wake  you  up,  has  said:  "  Get  out 
and  learn  something  else  than  the  errors  in 
which  you  have  been  living.  Learn  now  that 
all  your  business,  your  profession,  your  sue- 
[83] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

cesses,  are  not  worth  a  picayune  without 
health!  Get  that  back,  and  while  doing  it 
learn  the  delights  of  relaxation!" 

Continue  to  fight  against  your  lot,  keep 
yourself  in  a  melancholy,  cross,  crabbed 
humor,  and  such  stupidity  will  bring  its 
further  sorrows :  you  might  as  well  have 
stayed  at  home.  Be  courageous  and  hopeful, 
come  out  of  your  shell,  put  on  a  smile,  make 
everybody  your  friend,  read  good  light  litera- 
ture, talk  cheerily  with  others  trying  the  same 
prescription,  and  the  effect  is  bound  to  be 
beneficial.  It  will  not  be  many  weeks  before 
you  begin  to  feel  it  is  quite  a  picnic ! 

But  you  will  surely  want  diversions:  let's 
see  what  you  can  do  to  make  the  hours  pass 
pleasantly. 

In  the  first  place,  choose  your  environment, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  to  put  yourself  among 
people  who  will  probably  be  companionable. 
We  all  need  companionship  and  favorable 
environment,  and  when  we  are  invalided  and 
otherwise  dependent  we  especially  need  them. 

[84] 


HOW    TO    AVOID    LOxNELINESS 

Of  course  your  permitted  indulgences  will 
be  somewhat  abbreviated  for  a  while.  The 
doctor  will  probably  prohibit  the  theater  and 
perhaps  church,  too,  to  prevent  your  getting 
into  crowded  rooms  or  close  atmosphere.  It 
must  be  early  to  bed,  and  not  too  early  to  rise, 
with  window  open  top  and  bottom  (curtain 
and  shade  removed)  all  night,  and  out-of- 
doors  all  day,  not  exercising  much,  but  mostly 
sitting  in  the  sun,  wrapped,  if  need  be,  for 
extra  warmth. 

Now  is  a  time  for  good  reading  (but  not 
sitting  with  your  book  in  the  sun),  for  out- 
door sketching,  for  writing,  for  photography, 
for  genial  conversation. 

If  you  haven't  yet  learned  the  fascination 
of  drawing  and  coloring  try  it  now,  with 
pencil,  with  brush,  in  pastelles,  or  in  pen-and- 
ink.  Possibly  a  latent  talent  may  develop 
into  no  mean  artistic  ability. 

Or,  with  pen,  paper,  and  thoughts,  what  is 
to  prevent  your  becoming  an  author? 

How  about  that  long  cherished  hobby 
[85] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

which  you  have  been  promising  yourself  for 
years  past  that  you  would  some  day  ride, 
when  you  found  the  time?  Well,  here  is  the 
time  now ;  why  not  begin  ? 

During  college  days  wasn't  there  a  subject 
that  particularly  interested  you  ? — pursue  it 
further. 

Or  perhaps  you  never  went  to  college,  but 
wanted  to:  what  is  to  prevent  your  taking  up 
now  some  subject  there  offered?  If  you  hap- 
pen to  be  located  in  a  college  town  this  Avill 
be  easy  to  do,  attending  some  one  course  as 
a  special  student  with  no  fear  of  examinations 
to  harass  you.  This  would  pleasantly  employ 
much  time  and  would  cost  very  little. 

Aside  from  such  study,  think  of  all  the  de- 
lightful branches  of  knowledge  easily  within 
your  grasp  for  the  cost  of  a  few  books  or  a 
share  in  a  library.  Are  you  already  well 
versed  in  the  wonderful  things  in  astronomy, 
in  botany,  in  chemistry,  in  geology,  in  miner- 
alogy or  in  the  interesting  fields  of  zoology,  of 
physics,  of  anatomy  and  hygiene,  of  secular 
[86] 


HOW   TO    AVOID    LONELINESS 

and  religious  history?  Have  you  ever  ex- 
perienced what  an  antidote  to  the  blues  there 
is  in  mathematics? — what  a  range  of  thought 
in  philosophy? — what  a  mine  of  useful 
knowledge  in  the  study  of  mechanics? — what 
fascination  in  electricity  ?— what  pleasure  in 
studying  architecture;  in  learning  how  to  de- 
sign buildings  and  figure  out  strains  and 
stresses  in  the  materials  used? 

Such  studies,  investigations  and  analyses 
may  develop  you  into  an  inventor  or  a  dis- 
coverer. Why  not?  Because  some  of  these 
brain  possibilities  have  never  been  used,  is 
that  any  reason  why  they  cannot  be  ? 

Come  to  think  it  over,  you  have  thus  far 
been  playing  upon  only  a  very  few  chords  of 
your  possible  being,  with  whole  ranges  of  its 
possibility  not  yet  touched  into  vibration. 
You  really  don't  know  your  entire  self.  Ex- 
plore your  brain  a  little,  let  down  some  grap- 
pling-hooks  into  its  unknown  depths  and  see 
what  sort  of  pearls  may  be  there. 

Very  likely  you  got  a  fit  of  the  doldrums 
[87] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

when  that  little  accident  to  your  lungs  or 
throat  blew  you  out  of  your  wonted  sailing; 
but  that  was  only  an  incident,  perhaps  to  show 
what  kind  of  a  skipper  you  are.  Besides 
if  everybody  kept  on  sailing  forever  in  his 
little  narrow  channel  who  would  ever  discover 
that  "  gem  of  purest  ray  serene  the  dark,  un- 
fathom'd  caves  of  ocean  bear  "?  While  that 
mountain-side  would  forever  keep  locked  the 
precious  metals  hidden  beneath  Its  rough  and 
ordinary-looking  surface,  unless  the  explorer 
came. 

If  you  are  aesthetic  in  feeling  there  are  the 
magnificent  fields  of  art,  poetry,  literature, 
music,  as  inexhaustible  studies  and  delightful 
diversions.  The  study  of  historic  ornament, 
embodying  history,  legend,  art,  is  only  one 
of  the  related  branches  in  this  field,  yet  this 
study  alone  might  develop  you  into  a  practical 
designer  of  fabrics,  ornaments  or  wall  deco- 
rations. 

If  none  of  these  things  Interests  a  man.  It 
is  a  bad  sign  and  needs  treatment.  It  means 
[88] 


HOW   TO   AVOID    LONELINESS 

either  that  his  intellect  has  never  yet  been 
truly  cultivated  (and  now  is  the  chance  to  pull 
up  another  rung  on  the  intellectual  ladder), 
or  else  it  means  that  he  is  discouraged  and 
sees  no  good  or  usefulness  in  anything. 

If  you  are  hipped  about  yourself  there  is 
nothing  so  wholesome  as  to  shift  the  mind  off 
to  the  purest  and  best  thoughts  engaging  the 
attention  of  the  best  type  of  manhood.  In 
one  who  is  "  down  "  the  process  may  have  to 
be  forced  a  little  at  first;  but  try  it. 

Most  of  your  diversions  and  occupations 
must  be  mental  rather  than  physical,  for 
a  while,  since  your  physical  nature  particu- 
larly needs  resting  and  building.  Exercise 
must  be  limited  and  watched  that  it  produce 
only  healthy  reaction  and  not  exhaustion. 

Driving  or  trolley-car  rides,  with  short 
walks,  are  permitted  enjoyments. 

Bicycle  riding  and  horseback  riding  should 
be  enjoyed  only  with  the  doctor's  permission, 
since  these  forms  of  exercise  are  often  too 
violent  and  may  be  even  dangerous  for  those 

[89] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

with  tendency  to  hemorrhage.  Tennis,  for 
the  same  reason,  must  be  avoided. 

Picnics  in  the  canons  are  pleasant  half-day 
diversions,  while  golf  opens  a  field  for  both 
diversion  and  health  to  those  who  are  fairly 
strong.  Golf  and  country  clubs  are  popular 
and  their  membership  embraces  the  "  best  " 
people  in  the  community,  although  sometimes 
a  very  fast  set.  But  apart  from  dissipation, 
which  is  always  foolish  for  the  "  lunger,"  one 
may  live  very  comfortably,  healthily  and 
happily,  with  ample  diversion,  especially  if 
the  pocketbook  be  not  too  cramped. 

A  good  club,  with  its  hospitable  fireside  and 
easy  chair  for  an  hour's  rest  and  coziness, 
card  parties  as  often  as  one  cares  to  play  (if 
you  don't  sit  in  a  closed  room),  occasional 
musicales  or  performances  by  traveling  the- 
atrical companies,  sometimes  a  grand  opera, 
are  among  the  possible  diversions. 

The  ladies  are  particularly  genial  and  ap- 
parently never  lack  for  entertainment  among 
themselves — afternoon     teas,     card     parties, 

[90] 


HOW   TO    AVOID    LONELINESS 

luncheons,  and  frequent  meetings  of  women's 
clubs  with  discussions  of  all  sorts  of  things 
interesting  to  womankind,  keep  up  an  endless 
round  of  "  something  to  do." 

Then  there  are  all  sorts  of  fads,  fancies 
and  "  isms  "  which  you  may  find  diverting  or 
study  seriously,  according  to  your  mood  and 
temperament. 

It  will  take  a  few  weeks  to  get  acclimated 
and  realize  your  surroundings;  but  no  one 
need  lack  pleasant  diversion  who  makes  him- 
self agreeable  in  return. 


[91] 


VIII 

SOCIAL  AND  ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

When  one  Is  about  to  transplant  himself  or 
herself  from  accustomed  social  conditions  to 
an  unfamiliar  region,  it  is  something  more 
than  idle  curiosity  which  prompts  the  inquiry : 
What  kind  of  people  live  there?  What  is 
the  social  status  of  the  community  with  which 
I  shall  have  to  mingle?  Are  their  ethical 
ideas  at  all  like  my  own?  Can  I  feel  at  home 
with  them?  These  questions  appear  of  espe- 
cial importance  when  you  are  practically  alone 
and  when  the  whole  matter  of  suitable  or  un- 
suitable companionship,  for  many  months  to 
come,  is  to  be  dependent  upon  the  compara- 
tively few  people  whom  you  may  meet 
socially. 

Be  reassured  at  once:  it  would  be  difficult 
to  drop  down  anywhere  in  the  West  and  not 

[92J 


SOCIAL  AND   ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

discover  (if  you  look  around)  people  whose 
acquaintance  can  meet  the  requirements  of 
your  social  nature.  The  kind  of  people  you 
want  is  there,  it  is  only  a  matter  of  your  get- 
ting into  the  environment. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  dwellers  in  those 
Western  cities  and  towns — particularly  those 
who  are  householders,  and  the  more  influen- 
tial in  their  respective  communities — are  East- 
ern people,  representative  of  every  large  city 
along  the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard,  as  well 
as  of  numerous  inland  cities  of  New  England, 
the  Middle  and  the  Southern  States. 

There  is  also  quite  a  noticeable  element  of 
Englishmen  who  have  come  out  from  their 
homeland  either  to  seek  health  or  to  go  into 
ranching.  One  city,  Colorado  Springs,  has 
such  a  conspicuous  English  contingent  as  to 
have  been  dubbed  "  Little  London  "  by  its 
neighbors. 

The  manners  and  social  status  of  these  resi- 
dents are,  of  course,  exactly  similar  to  the 
best  that  one  finds  in  the  metropolitan  cities 

[93] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

of  the  East.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there 
is  the  same  extent  or  degree  of  luxurious  hv- 
ing  and  spending,  although  such  cities  have 
their  millionaires;  but  it  is  certainly  as  possible 
to  find  high  types  of  intelligent  manhood  and 
womanhood  and  all  that  pertains  to  gracious- 
ness  and  courtliness  of  manner,  as  elsewhere. 
The  amenities  are  not  wanting. 

The  homes  of  the  West  are  veritable 
homes,  sweet  and  wholesome;  each  one  a  little 
garden  spot  where  children  know  the  exuber- 
ant happiness  of  youth,  and  mothers  and 
fathers  are  not  society-mad  or  business-mad, 
but  lead  such  natural  lives  as  men  and  women 
can  live  who  are  neither  bound  to  an  endlessly 
revolving  wheel  of  "  society  "  nor  suffer  the 
blight  of  poverty. 

The  physical  aspect  of  the  more  important 
cities  of  the  West  is  inviting.  The  streets  are 
generally  wide  and  clean,  often  with  shade 
trees  and  greenswards.  Little  or  no  disorder 
is  seen.  Tramway  service,  electric  lighting, 
telephones,  etc.,  are  of  the  latest  type.     The 

[94] 


SOCIAL  AND   ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

residence  portions  often  contain  very  costly 
and  pretentious  dwellings,  while  all  the 
homes,  whether  of  millionaires  or  of  humble 
clerks,  have  an  appearance  of  comfort  and 
ease. 

That  the  people  enjoy  life  is  evidenced  in 
many  ways.  Handsome  turnouts,  gay  horse- 
back parties  and  the  inevitable  automobiles 
are  seen  at  all  hours  on  the  spacious  streets 
or  in  the  parks.  Free  band  concerts  are  given 
during  the  summer  months.  Theaters  are 
Avell  patronized,  and  luncheons,  card  parties 
and  dinners  are  always  on  the  social  calendar. 

Such  conditions  as  I  have  just  described, 
however,  pertain  to  the  cities  and  larger 
towns. 

It  is  also  true  that  there  is  a  large  popula- 
tion in  these  cities,  and  more  especially  in  the 
country  districts,  of  those  who  are  not  Eastern 
people,  as  that  term  is  generally  understood. 
In  fact  the  West  may  be  said  to  contain  peo- 
ple representative  of  every  social  stratum  and 
every  nationality,  and  a  few  miles  out  of  the 

[95] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

city's  limits  you  may  come  up  against  a  very 
primitive  condition  of  life. 

There  are  districts  and  places,  as  every- 
where else  on  earth,  which  particularly  invite 
certain  types  of  people  and  are  correspond- 
ingly uninteresting  to  others.  If  your  hobby 
is  mining,  it  would  probably  not  displease  you 
to  live  in  some  high  mountain  town,  like  Crip- 
ple Creek  or  Leadville.  In  still  newer 
"  camps  "  the  amenities  of  life  are  compara- 
tively few  and  one  expects  roughness  and  some 
coarseness  of  manner,  with  a  corresponding 
laxity  in  laws  and  morals  which  marks  the 
initial  stages  of  these  towns.  True,  such 
places  mend  their  manners  in  time;  perhaps, 
on  the  whole,  in  a  wonderfully  short  time, 
for  these  communities  have  a  way  of  establish- 
ing their  own  ideas  of  law  and  justice  with  a 
good  deal  of  vigor. 

Many  of  the  same  characteristics  appear,  as 
well,  in  those  open  areas  or  thinly  settled  dis- 
tricts which  are  the  natural  camping-grounds 
of  the  cowboy.  In  neither  of  these  would 
[96] 


SOCIAL  AND   ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

the  theorist,  the  poet  or  the  scholar  be  held 
in  peculiar  esteem  or  find  congenial  compan- 
ionship for  his  moods.  These  are  the  com- 
munities where  the  elemental  man,  with  few 
if  any  "  frills  "  of  civilization,  is  the  type. 

Sometimes  it  is  even  good  for  some  of  us 
who  have  been  too  delicately  reared  to  get 
into  contact  for  a  while  with  these  brusque 
types  of  manhood,  provided  we  do  not  carry 
along  any  intimation,  by  word  or  manner,  that 
we  think  ourselves  superior  beings.  If  we 
do,  we  are  not  unlikely  to  be  very  forcefully 
reminded  of  our  own  conceit  and  unpardon- 
able snobbishness.  There  is  a  straightfor- 
wardness and  naturalness  about  these  people 
which  do  not  long  tolerate  sham  or  subter- 
fuge; even  their  vices  are  open  and  flagrant, 
for  they  no  more  approve  a  pretended  moral- 
ity than  a  pretentious  saintliness.  You  may 
hold  any  faith,  creed,  or  politics  without  ques- 
tion; your  religion  and  morality  may  be  any- 
thing or  nothing,  and  you  are  likely  to  be 
permitted  freedom  to  preach  and  practise  such 

[97] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

ideas  as  you  hold,  provided  there  is  no  con- 
straint or  interference  with  another's  equal 
privileges. 

The  student  of  sociology  will  find  much  to 
interest  him  in  these  new  communities.  Here 
it  is  that  mankind,  cut  loose  from  the  con- 
ventional leading-strings  of  his  former  com- 
munal constraints,  is  set  down,  as  it  were,  in 
the  midst  of  nature's  original  impulses.  Quite 
true,  he  brings  into  this  new  earth  some  of  his 
established  conceptions  of  things  and  morals, 
but  unless  these  are  firmly  rooted  in  convic- 
tion they  will  somehow  undergo  transmuta- 
tions when  separated  from  the  unconscious 
but  pervading  and  more  compelling  environ- 
ment of  the  older  community. 

Even  the  smaller  towns  try  to  be  up-to- 
date — electric  lights,  telephones,,  and  electric 
street  cars  being  introduced  just  as  soon  as 
the  population  will  at  all  warrant  them. 
Everywhere  there  is  a  strongly  manifested 
determination  to  "  get  ahead "  in  material 
advancement.      "  Rustling "    is   a    term    em- 

[98] 


SOCIAL  AND  ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

ployed  to  denote  this  spirit.  It  is  borrowed 
from  the  word  used  to  describe  the  habit  of 
the  bison  to  scrape  or  "  rustle  "  beneath  the 
snow  for  its  food. 

Schools  are  opened  almost  as  soon  as  the 
first  stake  of  the  new  colony  is  driven,  and  the 
determination  to  make  education  the  leading 
influence  in  the  town's  life  has  led  to  the 
school  tax  being  among  the  first  items  of  im- 
portance.    ' 

Many  small  but  efficient  colleges  are  scat- 
tered throughout  the  West,  where  engineer- 
ing, mining,  agriculture,  the  arts  and  sciences 
are  taught,  under  competent  faculties,  at  such 
low  cost  to  the  student  body  as  to  put  higher 
education  within  the  reach  of  practically  every 
boy  and  girl  who  has  the  time  and  inclination 
for  it. 

Co-education  is  the  rule  in  these  colleges, 
and  a  finer,  happier,  healthier  and  saner  lot 
of  young  men  and  women  cannot  be  found. 
They  are  not  the  pampered  children  of  the 
wealthy,  but  come   from  the  homes  of  the 

[99] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

sensible  middle  class,  patriotic  with  the  Ameri- 
can spirit,  imbued  with  the  determination  born 
of  an  earnest  and  aspiring  outlook  upon  life. 
The  usual  college  fraternities  and  athletic 
sports,  such  as  football,  baseball,  basketball 
and  tennis,  reflect  the  contemporaneous  spirit 
of  the  larger  Eastern  colleges;  but  whatever 
his  athletic  ability  no  student  is  here  permitted 
to  forget  that  his  real  business  in  college  is  to 
prepare  himself  for  efficient  business  or  pro- 
fessional life  in  the  world. 

A  college  in  a  Western  town  is  perhaps  the 
chief  element  of  its  pride,  and  the  faculty  of 
such  a  college,  together  with  their  wives,  often 
constitute  the  most  conservative  nucleus  of 
the  best  society. 

Wealth  is  not  required  to  make  you  re- 
spected in  the  West,  and  your  poverty  will 
hardly  debar  you  from  respectable  society,  if 
you  otherwise  deserve  it.  Social  functions 
are  not  made  the  occasions  for  displaying 
keen-edged  rivalry  and  indulging  envious 
comparisons,  but  are  rather  opportunities  for 

[lOO] 


SOCIAL  AND   ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

exchanging  the  amenities  in  a  spirit  of  loyalty. 
Women's  clubs  are  many  and  vigorous. 

Among  the  men,  too,  the  social  principle 
seems  much  the  same:  there  is  a  good- 
humored,  philanthropic  impulse  observable, 
with  a  live-and-let-live  motive  in  the  air. 
Men's  clubs  are  numerous  and  embrace 
athletic,  social,  political,  scientific  and  secret 
societies. 

A  public  library  is  usually  to  be  found,  and 
churches  representing  many  denominations. 
Christian  Scientists  are  especially  strong  in 
some  regions. 

Speculation,  especially  in  mining  stocks,  is 
rife  among  all  classes,  to  the  sorrow  of  many; 
although  with  that  peculiarly  persistent  trait 
to  remember  only  the  prosperous  ones,  men 
keep  on  (and  women  too)  investing  their  not- 
to-be-spared  savings  in  the  ever  glowing  hope 
of  "  striking  it  rich."  There  are  such  things 
as  real  gold  mines,  with  acknowledged  out- 
put of  tangible  metal;  but  when  their  real 
value  is  known,  the  stock  in  that  company  is 

[lOl] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

pretty  closely  held  by  "  insiders."  Most  of 
the  mischief  is  done  by  reposing  too  much 
confidence  in  prospective  mines,  which  either 
have  no  actual  existence  or  else  are  given  a 
supposititious  value.  The  wild-cat  schemes 
for  deluding  an  innocent  public,  by  these  or 
similar  methods,  are  deserving  only  of  the 
severest  condemnation. 

As  an  example  of  how  somebody  lost  his 
money  by  over-credulity,  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion a  certificate  for  five  thousand  shares  of 
stock  in  one  of  these  discredited  ventures, 
which  I  bought,  as  a  curiosity,  for  fifteen 
cents!  I  have  often  wondered  how  many 
hopeful  individuals  had  owned  that  particu- 
lar certificate  and  how  many  dollars  had  been 
lost  through  it  before  I  got  it  as  worthless 
paper! 

Such  perfidious  schemes  of  beguiling  the 
public  as  I  am  speaking  of  tend  greatly  to 
destroy  confidence  in  the  more  worthy  and 
legitimate  business.  It  is  principally  the 
broker  who  profits  by  such  sales  of  worthless 
[102] 


SOCIAL  AND   ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

stock,  and  hundreds  of  dishonest  individuals, 
who  are  willing  to  pollute  their  hands  in  this 
way,  very  properly  "  go  to  the  wall  "  within 
a  few  months.  If  you  must  speculate,  study 
the  question  first. 

Western  towns  and  cities  are  not  all  alike 
by  any  means :  indeed,  they  vary  greatly,  not 
only  in  external,  architectural  appearance,  but 
in  their  moral  and  ethical  tone  as  well.  All  of 
them  are  still  so  young  that  the  original  forces 
which  gave  them  birth  are  yet  conspicuous 
in  their  society:  by  which  I  mean  that  the 
moral  convictions  and  social  status  of  the 
original  settlers  are  yet,  to  an  extent,  dominat- 
ing influences  in  the  ethical  atmosphere  of  the 
towns. 

For  example,  a  community  whose  origin 
has  been  in  a  mining  camp  will  be  complex- 
ioned  by  the  classes  that  would  naturally  be 
attracted  by  that  kind  of  life:  likewise,  towns 
which  have  been  founded  on  agricultural  in- 
terests, on  fruit-growing,  on  sheep  or  cattle 
grazing,  on  manufacturing,  or  strictly  as 
[103] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

health-resorts,  will  each  and  all  hav^e  their 
appropriate  tone  and  difference. 

The  results  of  local  option  are  sometimes 
distinctly  different,  even  in  cities  compara- 
tively near  together.  Thus  Denver,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  as  it  is  the  most  cosmopoli- 
tan city  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  with 
a  very  assorted  population  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  souls,  maintains  at 
the  same  time  religious  and  charitable  organi- 
zations of  high  character  and  open  theaters 
on  Sunday,  beer  gardens,  and  a  notoriously 
unconcealed  district  of  dives.  Apparently 
there  are  all  kinds  of  people  in  that  city,  and 
local  option  there  appears  to  be  lenient,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  there  is  an  increas- 
ingly large  element  opposed  to  such  wide 
license. 

Colorado  Springs — only  seventy-five  miles 
from  Denver — with  a  population  of  thirty 
thousand,  an  equally  attractive  city  in  its 
beautiful  scenery  and  comfortable  homes  and 
churches,  started  originally  by  Philadelphians 
[104] 


SOCIAL  AND  ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

as  a  health-resort,  Is  still  so  dominated  by  its 
original  conservative  element  that  there  is  not 
a  single  liquor  store  in  the  place.  These  two 
cities  are  mentioned  here  merely  as  examples 
of  widely  differing  local  governments  reflect- 
ing the  majority  voice  of  their  peoples. 

Pueblo,'  a  city  of  about  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants, forty  miles  south  of  Colorado 
Springs,  Is  principally  a  manufacturing  place, 
chiefly  noted  for  its  very  large  steel  works. 

Besides  Colorado  Springs,  the  other  towns 
of  the  region  which  may  be  considered  as 
health  resorts  chiefly,  and  therefore  the  places 
to  which  the  invalid  Is  more  likely  to  be  sent, 
are:  Manitou,  a  pretty  little  town  nestling 
beneath  the  foot  of  Pike's  Peak,  reached  by 
trolley-car  from  Colorado  Springs;  Canyon 
City;  and  Boulder,  thirty  miles  north  of  Den- 
ver. In  New  Mexico  are  Albuquerque,  Las 
Vegas,  and  Santa  Fe,  each  of  the  latter  three 
being  originally  old  Spanish  towns.  In  Ari- 
zona are  Phenix  and  Tucson. 

A  general  characteristic  of  all  these  health- 

[■05] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

resort  towns  is  an  almost  entire  freedom  from 
manufacturing  industries,  with  a  correspond- 
ing absence  of  that  type  of  population.  But 
a  concomitant  condition  is  a  necessarily  lim- 
ited field  for  business,  especially  in  the  smaller 
places.  Business  is  practically  confined  to  the 
few  professional  men  required,  the  several 
ofl^cers  of  local  government,  minor  operators 
in  real  estate  and  insurance,  some  stock- 
brokers, perhaps  a  bank  or  two,  an  express 
company,  and  a  few  dealers  in  general  mer- 
chandise and  produce.  If  the  town  is  suffi- 
ciently large  there  will  also  be  waterworks, 
gas  or  electric  light  plants,  and  a  street-car 
system. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  occupations  and 
opportunities  for  employment  in  the  smaller 
health-resorts  are  not  numerous.  The  people 
are  apt  to  be  quite  distinctly  of  the  leisure 
class,  being  there  principally  for  health's  sake. 
As  to  the  modes  of  living  in  these  towns, 
practically  all  the  variety  is  afforded  that  we 
discussed  in  the  general  chapter  on  that  sub- 
[io6] 


SOCIAL  AND  ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

ject,^  that  is,  there  are  hotels,  boarding- 
houses,  sanatoria,  tents,  etc. 

The  reason  for  choosing  to  Hve  in  one  par- 
ticular town  rather  than  any  other  is  some- 
times the  individual's  own  preference  or  his 
desire  for  a  change.  It  is  more  often  the 
doctor's  prescription  for  his  patient,  on  ac- 
count of  some  physical  condition  of  a  place — 
its  altitude,  the  quality  of  the  atmosphere,  or 
its  springs — which  he  believes  will  benefit  his 
patient.  Yet,  as  a  rule  the  distant  physician 
can  possess  but  a  limited  knowledge  of  these 
several  local  conditions,  and  the  patient  him- 
self must  ascertain,  after  actual  testing,  how 
far  that  place  seems  to  offer  the  desirable  con- 
ditions for  him. 

The  cost  of  living  as  a  rule  is  a  little  higher 
than  it  would  be  in  your  home  city  of  the 
East,  and,  while  the  scale  of  living  is  not  pre- 
tentious, it  is  good. 

The  society  in  these  small  towns  is  often 
very  good,  being  drawn,  of  course,  from  those 

1  Chapter  IV,  "Where  and  How  to  Live." 
[107] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

classes  that  can  afford  to  take  an  expensive 
journey  and  maintain  themselves  without 
work.  The  wealthy  idle  class  is  probably 
more  conspicuous  in  distinctly  health-resort 
towns  than  elsewhere,  especially  those  of  them 
designated  as  the  "  fast  set  "  or  "  smart." 
This  class  is  usually  made  up  of  wealthy  in- 
viduals  from  the  large  cities  of  the  East,  who 
have  come  out  for  their  health  and,  with  noth- 
ing to  do  or  not  wishing  to  do  anything  of  a 
useful  nature,  their  chief  aim  seems  to  be  to 
kill  time  and  amuse  themselves  with  fast  liv- 
ing and  scandals.  Probably  a  higher  rate  of 
mortality  obtains  among  these  fast  livers  than 
in  any  other  section  of  the  population,  as 
might  be  foreseen,  if  men  and  women  espe- 
cially in  need  of  physical  upbuilding  are  heed- 
lessly to  squander  their  remaining  strength  in 
dissipation. 

I  think  it  will  have  to  be  admitted  that  the 

spirit  of  the  West,  taken  broadly,  is  decidedly 

materialistic.      This   is   not   surprising   when 

you    reflect  that   the  first   object  sought   by 

[io8] 


SOCIAL  AND  ETHICAL  ASPECTS 

nearly  everybody  who  has  gone  West  has  been 
a  physical  or  material  one.  But  its  history  in 
this  respect  is  not  unique,  for  it  has  been  the 
history,  with  few  exceptions,  of  the  opening 
up  of  every  new  country. 

It  takes  a  long  time  for  purely  ethical  forces 
to  get  an  equal  hold  with  materialistic  ones, 
and  longer  yet  when  those  ethical  forces  are 
without  their  old-time  backing  of  religious 
zeal;  and,  except  spasmodically,  there  is  little 
religious  zeal  discoverable  in  the  West,  al- 
though there  are  many  churches.  Yet  always 
and  everywhere  there  will  be  devout,  earnest 
souls  constituting  definite  forces  for  righteous- 
ness and  civic  purity. 

As  a  Western  town  grows,  it  exhibits  much 
the  same  tendency  to  stratification  of  society 
that  is  seen  in  Eastern  cities.  So,  although 
the  newcomer  is  usually  assured  a  hospitable 
welcome,  it  is  always  advisable  for  him  to 
take  with  him  two  or  three  letters  of  introduc- 
tion from  people  of  his  own  social  standing, 
if  this  is  possible.  People  ev^erywhere  are 
[109] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

more  or  less  clannish,  and  such  a  letter  may 
wonderfully  help  the  new  arrival  to  get  at 
once  into  congenial  society.  If  you  cannot 
ask  for  such  letters,  a  letter  from  your  pastor 
to  one  in  the  Western  town,  or  a  card  of 
membership  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  or  any  society  or  organization  of 
which  you  happen  to  be  a  member,  may  be 
presented  to  the  similar  organization  in  the 
new  town  and  be  the  means  of  directing  your 
search  for  boarding-places,  as  well  as  afford- 
ing some  sense  of  friendship. 


[no] 


IX 

THE  LURE  OF  THE  WEST 

It  is,  perhaps,  characteristic  of  every  small 
town  or  city  of  the  Great  West  to  do  every- 
thing possible  toward  advancing  itself  into 
popular  appreciation,  especially  the  appreci- 
ation of  "  Eastern  people,"  and  with  this  end 
in  view  almost  every  town  of  even  passable 
importance  has  its  Chamber  of  Commerce 
busy  in  printing  and  distributing  information, 
to  the  one  end  of  gaining  a  desirable  popu- 
lation. 

All  this  is  not  unnatural  when  you  consider 
the  vast  areas  out  there  yet  to  be  utilized  by 
man.  It  is  also  quite  explainable  that  an 
enterprising  spirit  of  progressive  American- 
ism, kindled  to  renewed  youth  by  the  virgin 
freshness  of  boundless  plains,  the  purity  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  perchance  a  far  or  nearer 
view  of  great  mountain  ranges  lifting  their 

[III] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

heads  above  the  drifting  clouds,  should  call 
aloud  to  the  dwellers  in  the  restricted  city 
life  of  the  Eastern  marts  to  come  into  their 
land  of  corn  and  wine  and  become  a  part  of  it. 

True  it  is  that  after  one  has  "  emigrated  " 
thence,  and  lived  for  years  in  that  atmosphere 
of  the  Great  West,  certain  indefinable  changes 
take  place  in  the  constitutional  habits  of  mind 
of  the  man.  These  changes  are  rather  curi- 
ous, one  of  them  being  that,  even  though  he 
afterward  return  to  live  in  his  former  home 
city,  it  is  no  longer  quite  "home"  to  him; 
and  this  feeling,  I  believe,  often  exists 
whether  his  family  and  friends  still  reside 
there  or  not.  A  kind  of  restlessness,  a  sense 
of  expansion,  if  you  will,  has  silently  crept 
into  his  soul,  until  even  the  great  metropolitan 
cities  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard — cities  which 
he  formerly  supposed  contained  everything 
worth  while  in  life's  existence — somehow 
have  grown  less  interesting  to  him,  less  capti- 
vating in  their  hold  upon  his  imagination. 

Five  or  ten  years  ago,  when  he  was  forced 

[112] 


THE    LURE    OF    THE    WEST 

by  his  breaking  health  to  lay  down  his  work, 
he  would  have  given  half  his  fortune  could 
he  have  safely  remained  in  his  beloved  New 
York;  but  the  West  has  waved  some  mystic 
wand  over  him,  and  returning  thence  he  feels 
that  New  York  is  no  longer  a  Mecca  for  him  : 
somehow  its  vital  element  seems  gone,  and  he 
now  sees  it  only  as  another  place,  one  of 
many  spots  upon  the  earth  where  men  are 
pursuing  phantasies. 

What  is  the  reason  for  this? 

Is  the  answer  not  to  be  found  largely  in 
this :  that  his  later  experiences,  some  of  them 
discouraging  enough  doubtless,  have,  on  the 
whole,  broadened  him? 

The  great  city,  with  its  strenuous  demands 
to  keep  pace  or  fall  out,  so  engulfed  all  his 
energies  and  thought  that  he  had  little  time 
to  realize  that  there  was  a  great  natural  world 
beyond  its  artificial  portals.  But  once  forced 
out  beyond  those  all-containing  walls  of  city 
provincialism,  rebellious  for  a  while  against 
fate,  which  had  suddenly  deprived  him  of  all 

[113] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

occupation  and  given  him  boundless  leisure, 
the  lure  of  his  new  environment  stealthily 
crept  over  him.  The  unbroken  silence  of 
plains  reaching  eastward  into  the  horizon, 
with  the  little  city  lying  as  a  speck  upon  its 
bosom;  the  chasmed  and  rent  mountain  bul- 
wark, stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see;  the 
pearly  clouds  floating  around  that  nearest 
mountain  peak,  casting  shadows  on  its  rough 
sides  and  deep  canons;  the  rosy  glow  of  early 
morning,  the  deep  blue  of  the  zenith,  the  pur- 
ple velvet  and  the  crimson,  opal  and  orange 
glories  of  sunset-time — these  are  some  of  the 
voices  of  Nature  which  silently,  daily,  are 
stealing  the  man's  heart  away  from  his  earlier 
allegiance,  until  the  great  city  he  left  behind 
grows  dim  and  yet  more  dim  in  its  ever- 
retreating  distance  of  time,  while  the  fears, 
hopes  and  struggles  of  that  former  life  come 
to  seem  to  him  like  a  vision  of  the  past  when, 
dreaming,  he  too  chased  the  popular  phan- 
tasms, only  to  waken  in  this  far-off  land  and 
rtnd  they  were  not,  after  all,  vital  to  being! 
[i>4] 


THE   NATURE  OF   THE  DISEASE 

Although  there  are  those  who  think  the  less 
a  patient  knows  about  his  disease,  the  better, 
I  can  but  believe  that  a  reasonable  amount  of 
knowledge  concerning  it  will,  in  the  long  run, 
be  a  safeguard  to  him.  Therefore,  without 
going  into  too  minute  an  analysis,  I  venture 
to  give  him  the  most  important  particulars; 
for  it  is  only  by  having  some  idea  of  the 
pathology  that  he  can  intelligently  compre- 
hend the  need  of  caution,  in  order  neither  to 
enter  too  early  upon  business  nor  to  return  too 
soon  to  a  less  favorable  climate. 

The  old  idea,  that  "  consumption  " — now 
known  as  tuberculosis — is  transmitted  at  birth 
or  later  develops  as  a  direct  inheritance,  is 
practically  exploded  for  most  cases.  Physi- 
cians have  definitely  ascertained  that  it  is  a 
[115] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

disease  which  is  contracted  through  taking 
the  tubercle  germs,  or  bacilli,  into  the  system 
cither  by  inhaling  them  (which  is  the  usual 
way),  or  in  milk.  Therefore,  when  any  indi- 
vidual contracts  the  disease,  it  is  just  as  truly 
an  accident  which  has  happened  to  him  as 
would  be  the  breaking  of  his  leg.  But  unfor- 
tunately, while  ordinary  precaution  may  save 
us  from  a  visibly  impending  accident,  the 
tubercle  bacillus  is  invisible,  except  through  a 
powerful  microscope,  where  it  appears  in 
numbers  like  minute,  straight  rods  or  tiny 
hairs,  suggesting  a  vegetable  growth;  and 
since  it  is  practically  everywhere,  floating  in 
the  atmosphere,  particularly  in  large  cities, 
diffused  in  the  very  air  we  breathe,  it  is  im- 
possible to  prevent  its  inhalation.  Our  only 
safeguard  against  its  destructive  power  is  in 
being  in  perfect  health,  in  which  case,  al- 
though the  germs  are  inhaled,  they  are  imme- 
diately destroyed  by  the  potency  of  a  healthy 
blood  circulation.  But  let  the  general  health 
or  an  organ — especially  the  lungs  or  throat — 
[ii6] 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE   DISEASE 

become  weakened,  and  the  inbreathed  germs 
may  effect  a  lodgment,  start  a  local  inflamma- 
tion of  the  tissue,  begin  to  multiply,  and — 
the  accident  has  befallen  us!  Unfortunately 
it  cannot  be  mended  nearly  as  easily  or  as 
quickly  as  a  broken  leg. 

The  earlier  the  accident  is  discovered  and 
treated,  the  better,  by  far,  for  the  patient. 
Next  to  "  catching  "  the  trouble,  nothing  is 
worse  than  delay.  The  attack  being  once 
fairly  begun  against  the  tissue,  it  means  a  hard 
fight  lasting  months,  sometimes  longer,  before 
the  ravages  of  the  bacilli  can  be  stopped. 

Germs  of  other  diseases,  like  typhoid  fever, 
diphtheria,  etc.,  run  their  course  through  the 
human  system  and  yield  more  or  less  effectu- 
ally to  medicines,  so  that  within  a  few  weeks, 
unless  the  patient  has  succumbed,  the  system 
becomes  purged  of  the  germs  and  a  speedy 
convalescence  follows.  But  not  so  with  the 
tubercle  bacilli :  no  medicine  nor  antidote  has 
yet  been  discovered  which  is  capable  of  killing 
these  without  inflicting  a  worse  injury  on  the 
[117] 


GAINING    HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

patient.  It  is  hoped  that  the  day  will  come 
when  such  an  antidote  shall  be  discovered,  but 
it  is  not  yet,  the  specious  advertisements  of 
quack  doctors  and  nostrums  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding. 

Yet  the  disease  can  be  cured,  if  taken  in 
time.  The  only  successful  treatment  so  far 
known  to  medical  science  is  to  build  up  the 
human  system  through  unlimited  fresh  air, 
sunshine,  rest  and  nutrition.  Given  these,  the 
patient's  own  constitution  little  by  little  van- 
quishes the  intruder.  All  medicines  have  been 
found  to  be  practically  worthless,  except  in 
so  far  as  they  may  be  needed  to  treat  some 
associated  complaint.^ 


'Dr.  H.  B.  MooRH  wrote:  "When  the  disease  is  actuallv  in 
progress,  it  seems  to  me  almost  criminal  to  keep  the  patient 
at  home  trying  cough  medicines,  creosote,  guaiacol.  cod-liver 
oil,  hypophosphites,  etc.,  during  that  valuable  time,  often 
so  short,  when  climatic  treatment  is  really  capable  of  rendering 
assistance  in  the  struggle  with  the  invading  encmv.      .       . 

As  regards  ...  a  more  or  less  prolonged  residence 
in  high  altitudes,  it  is  a  serious  error  to  give  a  patient  going 
to  Colorado  on  account  of  tuberculosis  the  idea  that  he  is 
simply  to  go  there  for  'two  or  three  months'  or  'to  spend  the 
winter.'  It  is  very  rarely  that  expectation  of  this  sort  can 
lead  to  anything  but  disappointment." 

[ii8] 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE   DISEASE 

Thus  assisted,  Nature  begins  to  manufac- 
ture an  antitoxin  in  the  blood  corpuscles,  to 
weaken  the  enemy,  and  also  seeks  to  build  up 
a  wall-like  structure  within  and  about  the 
already  affected  area,  to  close  it  off  and  hem 
it  in  so  as  to  prevent  its  further  spread  to 
adjoining  tissue.  When  this  takes  place  the 
disease  is  arrested;  that  is,  its  ravages  have 
ceased,  for  the  time  at  least,  and  the  patient 
is  so  far  removed  out  of  the  danger  zone. 
This  condition  may  be  brought  about,  under 
favorable  circumstances,  in  from  three  to 
tw^elve  months. 

The  invalid  meanwhile  gains  weight,  a  par- 
tial return  of  strength,  and  often  shows  de- 
cided improvement,  so  that  gratifying  reports 
of  progress  are  sent  home  and  the  patient 
confidently  expects  to  be  there  himself  and 
again  in  the  full  swing  of  business  and  pleas- 
ure within  the  year.  But  here  let  him  observe 
caution.  The  cavity-wall  may  not  be  thor- 
oughly solidified,  and  a  change  of  residence 
to  a  less  favorable  climate,  with  a  withdrawal 

[119] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

of  the  previously  helpful  influences,  too  often 
results  in  a  fresh  activity  of  the  old  enemy. 
Indeed,  when  a  person  has  once  shown  a 
sensitiveness  to  infection  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  he  can  ever  resume  his  old  habits.  A 
complete  change  in  living  and  in  occupation, 
if  the  former  one  has  been  sedentary,  is  often 
the  one  alternative  if  he  would  continue 
immune. 

It  will  be  readily  apprehended,  from  the 
foregoing  explanation,  that  any  unfavorable 
environment  or  influences  are  likely  to  retard 
the  patient's  progress.  This  bears  directly 
upon  the  matter  of  seeking  or  accepting  em- 
ployment, since  when  the  individual  enters 
into  a  contract  to  perform  stated  duties  for  an- 
other it  is  more  than  likely  that  such  duties 
will  Impose  either  an  obligation  to  remain  In- 
doors, and  hence  deprive  him  of  so  much  fresh 
air  and  sunshine  per  day,  or  it  may  pull  too 
heavily  upon  his  strength  and  so  consume,  in 
work,  a  part  of  the  vitality  required  to  fight 
the  Inward  foe. 

[120] 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE   DISEASE 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mental  attitude  of 
constant  unrest,  unhappiness,  or  apprehen- 
sion, such  as  may  be  induced  by  the  knowledge 
that  one's  finances  are  inadequate  for  simple 
support  without  work,  may  be  equally  a 
hindrance  to  recovery.  In  such  a  case  it  be- 
comes an  open  question  what  to  do.  I  do  not 
mean  to  assert  that  it  is  invariably  a  menace 
to  the  invalid  to  engage  in  any  employment 
during  the  first  year :  that  question  should  be 
left  to  the  local  doctor  in  charge  of  the  case. 
But  no  invalid  should  undertake  work  on  his 
own  advice.  Possibly  after  a  lapse  of  three 
to  six  months,  if  his  symptoms  have  been  con- 
tinuously favorable,  his  physician  may  give 
sanction  to  his  engaging  in  some  light  employ- 
ment covering  not  more  than  two  to  four 
hours  out  of  the  day. 

Though  you  should  subsequently  live  for 
many  years  in  the  West,  there  can  be  no  time 
in  it  all  of  so  great  importance  in  its  possibili- 
ties of  placing  you  well  on  the  road  to  health 
as  the  first  year  there !     Do  not  overlook  this 

[I2I] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

fact  and  trifle  with  any  element  of  advantage 
for  your  upbuilding  which  this  first  year 
might  hold  for  you. 

There  is  such  a  thing,  apparently,  as  a 
climate  "  wearing  out  "  at  last,  in  its  curativ^e 
effect,  although  it  may  still  sustain  what  has 
been  accomplished;  but  during  this  first  year 
it  is  new  and  fresh  to  your  constitution  and  has 
a  corresponding  tonic  eflect  upon  membranes 
and  blood  circulation :  give  it,  then,  every 
opportunity  to  do  its  best  for  you. 

Is  there  not  greater  danger  of  infection  in 
those  towns  of  the  fTest  zvhich  are  sanatoria 
for  consumptives? 

This  question  is  sometimes  asked  by  timid 
people.  It  sounds  reasonable  enough,  but  the 
facts  prove  the  negative.  Dr.  C.  F.  Gardiner, 
in  his  valuable  little  book,  "  The  Care  of 
the  Consumptive,"  thoroughly  discusses  this 
question.  From  carefully  compiled  statistics, 
he  finds  that  the  average  of  the  new  cases 
contracted  in  the  large  Eastern  cities  is  three 
to  every  thousand,  per  year.  In  Denver 
[122] 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE   DISEASE 

(1895)  the  rate  was  one  to  every  three  thou- 
sand, per  year.  In  Colorado  Springs  there 
were  but  ten  cases  hi  ten  years,  or  a  rate  ot 
one  in  twenty  thousand,  per  year.  From 
which  data  he  computes  that  "  fifty  to  sixty 
develop  the  disease  in  the  East  to  one  case 
developed  in  Colorado  Springs."  Yet  the 
whole  proportion  of  consumptive  people  in 
these  places  is  very  much  larger  than  in  East- 
ern cities.  Altitude,  sunshine,  and  the  pure, 
antiseptic  air  render  germs  almost  innocuous.^ 
Pennsylvania,  with  a  population  of  6,302,- 
000,  has  eight  thousand  four  hundred  new 
cases  of  tuberculosis  in  a  year,  the  propor- 
tion being  one  to  every  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  persons! 

1  Dr.  J.  A.  Hart,  after  practising  twenty  years  in  Colorado 
Springs,  writes:  "During  my  experience  here  1  have  had  but 
one  case  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  occur  in  my  own  practice 
that  1  am  positive  originated  in  Colorado.  ...  I  have 
yet  to  see  a  case  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  in  a  child  born  in 
Colorado." 


[123] 


XI 

A   CHAPTER   ON   DON'TS 

It  Is  advisable  to  collect  under  one  heading 
the  important  things  which  the  invalid  should 
not  forget  regarding  what  he  should  do,  since 
carelessness  or  ignorance  of  some  of  these  has 
cost  other  health-seekers  heavily :  not  that  he 
should  be  forever  thinking  about  himself — 
that  were  unwholesome — but  just  enough  to 
be  on  guard  against  carelessness. 

Don't  neglect  to  live  up,  fully,  to  your  doc- 
tor's advice.  If  you  haven't  confidence  in 
him,  get  another;  but  don't  try  to  be  your 
own  physician. 

Don't  go  to  a  quack  doctor  unless  you  wish 
to  squander  money  and,  perhaps,  make  your- 
self a  victim  of  ignorance  or  experiments. 
That  stripe  of  quack  doctor  who  offers  to 
"  cure  "  you  for  a  stipulated  sum  of  money, 
[124] 


A    CHAPTER    ON    DON'TS 

paid  down,  is  particularly  to  be  avoided.  If 
that  style  of  treatment  or  such  nostrums  can 
cure  your  disease,  why  did  you  come  so  many 
miles  from  home  when  your  local  drug  store 
would  have  supplied  all  the  ingredients — less 
the  pretense — for  a  few  cents?  There  was  a 
time  when  I  personally  investigated  some  of 
these  pretensions,  determined  to  find  the  truth, 
without  prejuidice;  but  I  never  found  even  one 
individual  among  their  alleged  "  cures  "  who 
could  satisfactorily  maintain  the  claim. 

If  the  most  eminent  and  respectable  physi- 
cians in  the  world,  having  knowledge  of  all 
the  latest  and  tested  methods,  are  unwilling  to 
pump  questionable  or  pernicious  drugs  into 
you,  or  strain  the  lung  tissues  by  forced  respi- 
ration, you  would  better  beware  of  those 
ostracized  ones  who  "  know  better." 

Don't  join  a  gymnasium,  run,  swim,  or 
take  any  other  exercise  beyond  short  walks, 
without  a  doctor's  advice.^ 


'  Dr.  B.  p.  Anderson  says:  "  Much  harm  and  even  serious 
and    fatal   results   attend    many   invalids     .     .     .     through 

[125] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

Don't  practise  deep  breathing  or  enforced 
respiration  too  much:  there  is  sometimes  a 
question  as  to  whether  it  doesn't  interfere  with 
the  solidifying  process,  so  important.  This 
raises  a  question  as  to  the  indiscriminate  use 
of  inhalers. 

Don't  do  anything  to  tax  your  heart,  to 
cause  hard  breathing,  or  to  exhaust  your 
strength. 

Don't  use  tobacco.  If  you  must  smoke, 
limit  yourself  to  one  cigar  a  day. 

Don't  ride  a  bicycle  or  a  horse  without 
advice. 

Don't  sit  in  a  draught  or  ride  in  a  wind,  if 
overheated  or  even  moist.  To  get  a  chill  is 
dangerous:  if  you  get  one,  go  at  once  to  the 
doctor. 

Don't  wear  damp  clothing  or  wet  shoes. 
The  body  should  always  be  kept  well  pro- 
tected by  suitable  clothing,  wool  being  best 
for  all  seasons. 

ignorance  .  .  .  as  to  the  necessity  of  moderation  in  ex- 
ercises. .  .  .  Incases  .  .  .  the  importance  of  abso- 
lute rest  and  quiet  is  of  the  utmost  necessity." 

[.26] 


A    CHAPTER    ON    DON'TS 

Don't  take  cold  plunge  baths;  but  a  cold 
sponge  daily,  with  a  warm  or  tepid  tub  bath 
twice  weekly,  upon  retiring,  are  generally 
beneficial. 

Don't  continue  sitting  out-of-doors  after 
sundown:  the  drop  in  temperature  is  sudden 
and  may  chill. 

Don't  eat  or  drink  indigestible  foods.  If 
the  stomach  becomes  disabled,  it  postpones 
cure. 

Don't  permit  constipation. 

Don't  use  whisky  or  other  stimulants  unless 
prescribed,  or  unless  you  have  a  chill  or  other 
exposure  and  cannot  get  a  doctor :  in  that  case, 
a  tablespoonful  of  whisky  in  hot  water,  fol- 
lowed by  four  to  eight  grains  of  quinine,  may 
prevent  complications. 

To  an  invalid  the  most  alarming  thing  is 
a  hemorrhage:  if  one  comes  on,  don't  be 
frightened;  keep  cool  and  summon  assistance, 
if  you  can  do  so  without  exertion.  Dr.  Gar- 
diner says:  "  By  far  the  greater  number  of 
hemorrhages  from  the  lungs  are  not  danger- 
[127] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

ous  to  life,  but  on  the  contrary  relieve  some 
congested  part  of  the  lung."  ^  The  actual 
amount  of  blood  so  lost  is  often  no  more  than 
from  a  nose-bleed  or  a  pulled  tooth.  Do 
not  talk.  Your  body  should  be  half  re- 
clining, propped  up  with  pillows.  Have 
the  windows  open :  cool  air,  even  to  40  de- 
grees, is  beneficial.  Keep  cracked  ice  in  the 
mouth.  "  Twenty  drops  of  chlorodyne  in  a 
tablespoonful  of  cold  water,  as  a  dose. 
Pond's  Extract  is  also  said  to  be  of  service 
if  the  chlorodyne  is  not  at  hand."  -  "  Put 
a  poultice  of  flaxseed,  three  parts,  and  mus- 
tard, one  part,  on  the  body  (over  the  right 
side  from  two  inches  below  the  nipple  to  the 
end  of  the  ribs,  and  from  the  spine  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  body  in  front;  put  on  warm)."  '^ 
Lie  still  until  a  doctor  arrives. 

Don't  deprive  yourself  of  sleep.  Retire  by 
9  P.M.  and  remain  in  bed  until  7  130  A.M.,  with 
window  open  top  and  bottom   (no  shade  or 


'  "The  Care  of  the  Consumptive,"  bv  Dr.  C.  I",  GARtiiNtR. 
Mbid.  Mbid/ 

[.28] 


A    CHAPTER    ON    DONTS 

curtain  to  impede  ventilation)  in  all  weathers 
and  seasons;  for  warmth  depending  upon 
plenty  of  bedclothes,  pyjamas,  and  even  a 
dressing-gown  or  bath-robe  in  addition,  if 
necessary. 

Don't  deprive  yourself  of  nourishing  food 
in  ample  quantity :  it  is  absolutely  necessary, 
particularly  red  meats  and  fat-producing 
kinds.  One  to  four  quarts  of  pure  milk  and 
two  to  six  raw  eggs  daily  should  be  taken  in 
addition  to  regular  meals. 

Be  careful  about  habits  of  cleanliness,  espe- 
cially with  reference  to  your  expectoration; 
otherwise  you  not  only  endanger  others,  but 
may  re-infect  yourself,  as  well.  It  is  careless- 
ness in  regard  to  this  one  matter  that  is  caus- 
ing mischief  in  the  world  by  starting  new 
cases  of  tuberculosis.  The  invalid  owes  it  to 
his  fellow  man  that  no  further  contagion  be 
spread  to  others  by  reason  of  his  carelessness 
or  indifference. 

Never,  no  matter  what  the  excuse  ( for  ex- 
ample, to  avoid  being  conspicuous)  swallow 
[129] 


GAINING   HEALTH  IN   THE  WEST 

anything  which  rises  in  your  throat,  as  doing 
so  may  be  to  carry  the  germs  directly  into 
your  stomach  and  intestines;  and  if  they  get 
a  hold  there  your  condition  becomes  very 
grave. 

Cleanse  thoroughly  mouth  and  lips  (and 
mustache  and  beard)  several  times  a  day  with 
soap  or  a  disinfectant.  Wash  out  your  mouth 
with  an  antiseptic  before  eating. 

Never  permit  any  expectoration  to  drop 
upon  any  sidewalk  or  footpath  or  within  any 
building  or  upon  clothing  or  furnishings,  bed- 
ding, curtain,  carpet  or  the  like.  If  it  has 
accidentally  done  so,  first  remove  it  with  a 
bit  of  soft  (toilet)  paper,  to  be  immediately 
burned,  and  then  wash  the  spot  with  a  ten 
per  cent,  solution  of  carbolic  acid.  All  ex- 
pectoration within  doors  should  be  into  a 
proper  receptacle  containing  water  and  some 
drops  of  carbolic  acid;  and  when  necessary 
out-of-doors,  should  be  as  far  as  possible  from 
a  public  walk  or  playground,  and  where  the 
direct  sun  can  reach  it.  Direct  sunshine  in 
[130] 


A    CHAPTER    ON    DONTS 

high  altitudes  kills  the  bacilli  after  a  few 
hours  of  exposure. 

It  is  better  to  carry  a  number  of  squares  of 
cheesecloth  or  Japanese  paper  napkins,  to  re- 
ceive the  expectoration,  placing  them  tempor- 
arily within  an  oilskin  or  rubber  bag,  and 
burning  them  upon  reaching  home.  Wash 
the  bag  frequently  with  a  disinfectant.  Never 
use  a  handkerchief  in  this  way  without  burn- 
ing it  immediately.  Infected  handkerchiefs 
are  among  the  easiest  means  of  spreading  the 
contagion  to  others. 

Never  cough  while  in  proximity  to  another 
person,  without  holding  a  handkerchief  up  to 
your  mouth. 

It  is  better  that  the  invalid  should  occupy 
a  bed  by  himself  and  should  avoid  kissing — 
at  least  while  the  trouble  is  still  active. 

If  these  rules  are  strictly  followed,  there 
is  no  reason  why  the  invalid  should  be  a 
menace  to  anybody,  even  to  one  in  the  closest 
companionship;    but    in    proportion    as    he 

[131] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE  WEST 

neglects  these  necessary  precautions  he  does 
become  a  menace,  and  when  such  neglect  is 
continuous  and  in  open  violation  of  his  knowl- 
edge on  the  subject,  he  properly  forfeits  the 
sympathy  and  consideration  of  other  people 
and  makes  himself  an  object  to  be  shunned. 


[132; 


APPENDIX 

A  FEW  STATISTICS 

Colorado — The  State  is  a  high  table-land, 
4,000  to  6,000  feet  above  sea  level,  and  has 
mineral,  agricultural,  timber,  and  grazing  re- 
sources in  abundance.  Fruit-growing  is  an 
important  industry.  Its  gold  and  silver  mines 
are  among  the  richest  in  the  world;  coal  mines 
are  also  important. 

The  Rocky  Mountain  chain  passes  about 
centrally  through  the  State  from  north  to 
south,  and  many  of  its  loftiest  peaks  are  in- 
cluded between  the  boundaries. 

The  climate  includes  all  the  range  of  tem- 
peratures known  in  the  United  States.  (See 
Chapter  III,  "  Climatic  Conditions.") 

Its  population  (539,700)  is  80  per  cent. 
American-born,  being  largely  drawn  from  the 
Eastern  States. 

[133] 


GAINING  HEALTH  IN  THE  WEST 

Its  many  educational  Institutions  are  of  a 
high  order.  Among  the  more  important  are: 
The  University  of  Colorado,  at  Boulder;  the 
Agricultural  College,  at  Fort  Collins;  the 
School  of  Mines,  at  Golden;  Colorado  Col- 
lege, at  Colorado  Springs. 

It  has  eight  towns  of  over  4,000  inhabi- 
tants, of  which 

Denver  (the  capital)   has  133,859 

Pueblo 28,157 

Colorado   Springs 21,085 

Leadville 12,455 

Cripple  Creek 10,097 

according  to  the  census  of  1900.  Of  course 
a  considerable  percentage  must  now  be  added. 

The  hot  sulphur  springs  of  Middle  Park 
and  Wagon-Wheel  Gap,  and  the  iron  and 
soda  springs  of  Manitou,  Canyon  City,  Glen- 
wood  Springs  and  Idaho  Springs  are  famous. 

There  are  modern  sanatoria  at  Denver, 
Colorado  Springs,  Manitou,  Pueblo,  and 
Boulder. 

[134] 


APPENDIX 

New  Mexico — A  high  table-land,  its  aver- 
age altitude  being  similar  to  that  of  Colorado. 
Cattle  and  sheep  raising  are  the  principal 
industries,  but  it  also  has  silver  mines.  There 
is  little  general  business. 

The  population  is  chiefly  of  mixed  Spanish 
origin,  but  with  increasing  numbers  from  the 
Eastern  States.  Of  the  total  population  in 
1900  (195,310)  it  was  estimated  that  61  per 
cent,  could  not  speak  English. 

The  first  explorers  were  the  Spanish  in- 
vaders: Cabeca  de  Vaca,  1536;  Coronado, 
1540;  Juan  de  Onate  (who  conquered  the 
native  Indian  inhabitants)   1598. 

It  was  part  of  the  territory  involved  in  the 
war  with  Mexico,  and  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States  by  that  country  in  1846.  Its 
commercial  prosperity  began  soon  after,  with 
the  opening  up  of  the  once  famous  overland 
route  known  as  the  "  Santa  Fe  Trail." 

Santa  Fe,  founded  in  1616,  the  second 
oldest  city  on  the  continent,  is  the  capital. 

The  principal  cities  are : 

[135] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN  THE  WEST 

Santa  Fe,  population  (census  1900)  .  .  .5,603 
Albuquerque,      "  "  "       ...6,238 

Las  Vegas,         "  "  "      ...3,552 


The  State  University  is  at  Albuquerque; 
the  Normal  University  is  at  Las  Vegas. 

Albuquerque,  5,000  feet  altitude,  computed 
population  in  1905,  12,000,  has  street-cars, 
waterworks,  a  sewage  system,  good  hotels,  a 
theater,  twelve  churches,  and  a  modern  sana- 
torium. 

There  is  a  large  sanatorium.  The  Monte- 
zuma, at  Las  Vegas  Hot  Springs  for  mem- 
bers of  fraternal  orders.  This  was  formerly 
a  fine  hotel  and  is  beautifully  situated.  Its 
hot  mud  baths  are  famous. 

The  United  States  Government  Sanatoria 
for  army  and  navy  men,  are  at  Fort  Bayard 
and  Fort  Stanton.  Santa  Fe  has  two  sana- 
toria. 

Santa  Fe  also  possesses  the  Territorial 
Library  of  Spanish  and  Mexican  archives, 
1 62 1  to  1846;  an  asylum  for  deaf  mutes,  a 
[136] 


APPENDIX 

United    States    Indian    School    and   military 
reservation. 

Arizona — A  table-land,  its  name  being 
the  Spanish  word  signifying  "  dry  belt." 

The  population  is  given  in  the  census  for 
1900  as  122,900,  of  which  26,400  were 
Indians,  mostly  Navajos. 

The  territory  has  silver  and  rich  copper 
mines.  The  soil  is  generally  very  barren  and 
non-productive.  In  a  total  area  of  113,020 
square  miles,  only  100  are  under  water. 
Practically  all  of  the  productive  land  (about 
2.7  per  cent,  of  the  whole  area)  is  along  the 
Gila  River,  in  the  southern  part. 

The  territory  is  traversed  by  two  railroads: 
the  Santa  Fe  through  the  northern  portion, 
and  the  Southern  Pacific  through  the  southern 
part. 

The  northern  half  of  the  territory,  in  which 

is  the  noted  Grand  Caiion  of  the  Colorado,  is 

a  broken,    arid   table-land,    averaging   5,000 

feet  in  altitude,  with  intermittent  mountains. 

[137] 


GAINING   HEALTH   IN   THE   WEST 

The  southern  half  falls  rapidly  away  In  alti- 
tude, to  nearly  sea  level. 

This  land  was  first  explored  by  Europeans 
in  1540,  when  Vasquez  de  Coronado  led 
thither  a  Spanish  expedition.  Ruins  of  aque- 
ducts, fortifications  and  cities  attest  a  once 
powerful  prehistoric  race,  of  which  the  poor 
Moqui  Indians  and  their  sun-baked  clay  vil- 
lages remain  as  forlorn  reminders. 

The  principal  cities  are: 

Phenix    (the   capital),    population  ....  2,700 

Tucson 5' 100 

Prescott 2,700 

Jerome 2,500 

these  figures  being  taken  from  the  census  ol 
1900. 

The  Territorial  University  is  at  Tucson 
(1891).  There  are  Territorial  Normal 
Schools  at  I'empe  and  Magstaft. 

Nori;. — Quotations  in  the  preceding  pages  attributed 
to  Drs.  J.  A.  Hart,  S.  E.  Solly,  B.  P.  Anderson,  W.  H.  Swan. 
H.  B.  Moore  and  C.  F.  Gardiner,  are  taken  from  a  little  book 
entitled    "High   Altitudes   for   Invalids,"   published   by   the 


APPENDIX 


Chamber  of  Commerce,  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado.  They 
are  from  reports  of  addresses  delivered  by  these  physicians, 
who  in  some  cases  refer  to  their  own  contributions  to  medical 
periodicjals  and  books.  The  author  does  not  regard  it  as 
essential  to  record  the  exact  source  of  these  quotations  as  the 
facts  stated  are  generally  accepted  by  the  medical  profession. 


[139] 


"It  'is  easily  the  best  boolc  ot    its  kind  yet  written  in 
America ' '    says  The  Literary  Digest  of 


MORAL    EDUCATION 

by 

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A  discussion  of  the  whole  problem  of 
moral  education  :  its  aim  in  relation  to  our 
society  and  all  the  means  through  which  that 
aim  can  be  attained.  The  book  contains  a 
complete  bibliography  with  annotations,  and 
index,  and  has  been  adopted  as  a  text  in 
normal  schools  and  colleges  and  for  study 
by  clubs  and  reading  circles. 

Descriptive  circulars  and  notable  com- 
ments may  be  had  upon  application  to  the 
publisher. 

Cloth,  net   S1.60;   postage    12   cents 

At  all  booksellers  or  of 
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says  the   Boston  Tra?iscript  ot 

THE    CITY    THAT   WAS 

A  Requiem  of  Old  San  Francisco 
by 

Will   Irwin 

This  tribute  to  the  San  Francisco  that 
passed  away  with  the  disaster  of  April,  1906, 
has  become  classic.  Originally  it  was  printed 
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with  a  copy-boy  at  the  author's  elbow.  In- 
spired by  the  thought  of  intimate  ties  which 
made  every  feature  of  the  city  dear  to  him, 
and  the  dangers  by  which  it  was  still  threat- 
ened, Mr.  Irwin  dashed  off  a  prose  epic 
which  will  always  remain  the  truest  memorial 
to  San  Francisco's  greatness. 

Board  covers,  net  50  cents,  postage  4  cents 

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